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The Attitude of the Catholic Church Towards 

Witchcraft and the Allied Practices 

of Sorcery and Magic 



BY 

SISTER ANTOINETTE MARIE PRATT, A. M. 

OF THE 

Sisters of Notre Dame of Namur, Belgium 



A DISSERTATION 

Submitted to the Faculty of Philosophy of the Catholic 

University of America in Partial Fulfilment 

of the Requirements for the Degree 

Doctor of Philosophy 



Washington, D. C. 
June, 1915 



The Attitude of the Catholic Church Towards 

Witchcraft and the Allied Practices 

of Sorcery and Magic 



BY 

SISTER ANTOINETTE MARIE PRATT, A. M. 

OF THE 

Sisters of Notre Dame of Namur, Belgium 



A DISSERTATION 

Submitted to the Faculty of Philosophy of the Catholic 

University of America in Partial Fulfilment 

of the Requirements for the Degree 

Doctor of Philosophy 



Washington, D. C. 
June, 1915 



- 



« ^ 



National Capital Press, Inc. 

Book Manufacturers 

Washington, D. C. 



PEEFACE 

The purpose of this dissertation is to present in con- 
cise form and from the Catholic point of view a history 
' of the development of witchcraft and the attitude of the 
Church with regard to this vexed and curious question 
during the first seventeen centuries. The treatment of 
the subject is purely historical, hence all mention of con- 
troversy and of controversial discussion has been avoided. 
All reference to secular legislation has been omitted ex- 
cept in a few instances where the civil code provided for 
certain privileges to be accorded to the Church and the 
ecclesiastical tribunals. 

The author hopes that this essay will not be a useless 
one inasmuch as there has not come under her observa- 
tion any Catholic work in English on this particular as- 
pect of the subject, while of the non-Catholic and anti- 
Catholic works the number is legion. Many of the monu- 
mental productions in English, French and German are 
written in a spirit of hostile criticism, while the Church 
documents and original sources which have been largely 
used in the present work, and which form the other side 
of the question, are available to few students and readers 
of history. 

The array of references open to research, however, is 
a formidable one and in a dissertation of limited scope 
some principle of selection was indispensable. Hence 
only the opinions and testimony of representative ecclesi- 
astical writers and eminent canonists in each age have 
been cited. Of the numerous lay writers most were 
barred because of the nature of the subject which aims at 
emphasizing the position of the Church, but use has been 
made of the jurists Tengler, Pegna, and Eemigius who 
wrote from the theological view-point. 

It remains for the author to make grateful acknowl- 
edgment to Rev. Nicholas A. Weber, S. T. D., Rev. Wil- 



4 PREFACE 

liam Turner, S. T. D., Eev. Patrick J. McCormick, Ph. D., 
for help generously given in the preparation of this dis- 
sertation; to Dr. John Foote, of Washington, and Dr. 
James J. Walsh, of New York, for information concerning 
the effect of certain drugs on the mind, and to other 
friends who have been so generous in encouragement and 
advice. Special thanks are due to Professor George L. 
Burr, of Cornell University, for so kindly making avail- 
able some of the rare and early editions of works con- 
tained in the Andrew D. White Library. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I 

Definitions and Descriptions of Witchcraft 7 

Definitions of witchcraft, magic, sorcery — Origin of term witch 
— Powers of a witch — Description of a witch — Reasons 
why witchcraft was mainly confined to women — Descrip- 
tions of Sabbats and chief practices of witches. 

CHAPTER II 

Origin and Development of Witchcraft, 18 

Universality of witchcraft, sorcery and magic — Prevalent 
among the Egyptians, Jews, Persians, Greeks, Romans, 
Teutons, Celts. 

CHAPTER III 

The Church, 1-800 A. D 28 

Teaching of the early Church — Ante-Nicene Fathers and later 
ecclesiastical writers — Decrees and letters of the Popes — 
Synods — Penitentials. 

CHAPTER IV 

The Church, 800-1200 A. D 38 

New questions introduced by writers — Papal decrees and 
letters — Synods — Penitentials . 

CHAPTER V 

The Church, 1200-1700 A. D 51 

Theological writers — Malleus Maleficarum and its influence. 

CHAPTER VI 

The Church, 1200-1700 (continued) 65 

Theological writers — The Jesuits and their place in the witch 
persecutions. 

CHAPTER VII 

The Church, 1200-1700 A. D 85 

Decrees of the Popes — Synods — Penitentials. 

5 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER VIII 



The Inquisition and Persecution of Witches 100 

Witchcraft and heresy combined — Present-day teaching of 
the Church regarding magic practices. 



CHAPTER IX 

Summary and Conclusion 120 

Bibliography 125 

Index 133 



CHAPTER I 

DEFINITIONS AND DESCRIPTIONS 

Witchcraft, that dark and tragic practice which has 
stained so many of the pages of history with unname- 
able deeds, is as universal and as enduring as the re- 
ligious instinct itself. The mere mention of the word 
suffices to start a storm of controversy — was it a reality 
or merely a delusion? In pre-Christian times it was uni- 
versally believed, it persisted down through Christian 
ages, and even in our own day is still held in some form 
by a large number of persons, yet our attitude towards 
it is largely one of disbelief. To most persons, one who 
asserts the existence or even the possibility of witch- 
craft labors under a burden of proof, which he cannot 
support without great difficulty. Such a belief is now 
regarded as monstrous, absurd, abnormal, and the ques- 
tion is usually dismissed in scornful silence and pity for 
the foolish individual who has the temerity to hint at 
its reality. Before undertaking a study of the subject, 
then, we must lay aside our twentieth-century scepticism, 
our knowledge of science, of medicine, of nature and her 
laws; we must approach the historical survey of our 
subject in the credulous, uncritical attitude of the period 
in which the phenomena most frequently occurred, the 
Middle Ages. 

The statement has been made that many people at 
the present time are devoted to the witch's cult, if not 
in name, at least in reality. It is only necessary to 
read the magazines to discover this truth. Thousands 
of pages are taken up with expositions of the occult, 
spiritism, table-rapping, seances, etc., all of which are 
but different manifestations of the old witchcraft idea, 
for the underlying principle of all is the same — an irre- 
sisible attraction for some power which is not natural. 



8 DEFINITIONS AND DESCRIPTIONS 

If the persons who profess these beliefs had lived in the 
middle ages, doubtless they would have been considered 
witches and burned at the stake. Or, again, if we examine 
the fiction of our day, we find many novels dealing with 
what once was considered the black art, but is now known 
as necromancy, hypnotism, dual and triple personality — 
again the same idea. Still another phenomenon, that of 
devil-possession, which is not confined to the past, proves 
the existence of what formed the essential of witch- 
craft — personal intercourse with the spirit of evil. Such 
experiences are not infrequently met with by mission- 
aries, not only in China, India, Africa, but also in the 
most civilized countries. 1 

Before taking up the question of the Church's attitude 
towards the matter of witchcraft, it is necessary to have 
a clear idea not only of that practice, but of the allied 
arts of sorcery and magic. Many writers, especially 
during the middle ages, used the three terms synony- 
mously, hence we must define each clearly. 

From the earliest times, witchcraft has been regarded 
as criminal intercourse with evil spirits, for the accom- 
plishment of some superhuman act, generally evil. 
"Maleficium est magiae species, qua quis ope daemonis 
alteri damnum parat." 2 The essential element in witch- 
craft is rnaleficium, the working of harm to the bodies 
and goods of one's fellow men, by means of evil spirits 
or of strange powers derived from intercourse with these 
spirits. 3 A second important factor is the making of 
a pact with the devil, which pact may be express or tacit. 
If this pact with the devil is wanting, there is no 
witchcraft. 4 



^evius, Devil Possession and Allied Themes, 73-93; Nineteenth Cen- 
tury, Oct., 1880, Demoniacal Possession in India. 

2 Delrio, Disquisitionum Magicarum, libri sex. Cologne, 1617, lib. 
Ill, 353. 

3 Gregorii de Valentia, Commentariorum Theologicorum Tomus Ter- 
tius, Ingolstadt, 1603. Diet., VI; Quaes., XIII, 1947. 

4 Valentia, op. cit., 1944. 



DEFINITIONS AND DESCRIPTIONS 9 

Magic differs from witchcraft in that "it is an art or 
means of producing by a created force, effects so marvel- 
lous and so extraordinary that the relation between effect 
and cause surpasses the intelligence of man." 5 That 
which characterizes a magical effect and differentiates 
it from a miracle is that it is evil and is produced by an 
evil agency. 6 

Sorcery differs but slightly from witchcraft; it is 
denned as ' ' the power of performing supernatural things, 
with the help of infernal powers and in consequence of 
a pact with the devil. It is the resume of the occult 
sciences, raised by the devil to the highest degree of 
power." 7 

From the above definitions it will be seen that witch- 
craft, magic and sorcery are all concerned with the pro- 
ducing of effects beyond the normal powers of man, by 
agencies other than divine, hence it is but natural that 
writers, especially before the fifteenth century, made little 
or no distinction in the use of the terms. Since the prac- 
tices characteristic of witchcraft are the most clearly 
defined, we shall devote the next few pages to a some- 
what detailed explanation of the chief malpractices at- 
tributed to the witches. It has been already stated that 
an important factor in witchcraft is the diabolical pact 
or at least an appeal to the intervention of the spirit of 
evil. This aid is usually invoked to procure the death 
of some person, or to call up the dead, or to awaken love 
in those who are the objects of desire, or to bring some 
calamity upon enemies, rivals or oppressors. In the tra- 
ditional belief of pre-Eeformation as well as post-Refor- 
mation times, the witches who had entered into the com- 
pact with Satan abjured the Christian religion, observed 
the witches ' "Sabbat," paid divine honor to the devil 



5 Enclycopedie Theologique, Dictionnaire des Sciences Occultes. Paris, 
1852. Art. Magie et Magiciennes, II, 24. 
8 Ibid. 
T Encyclopedie Theologique, series III, XX, 1106. 



10 DEFINITIONS AND DESCRIPTIONS 

and, in return, received from him certain distinctive 
powers such as those of riding through the air on a 
broomstick, crossing the sea in a sieve, assuming different 
shapes at will and having at their disposal an imp or 
familiar willing and able to perform any service that 
might be needed to carry out their malicious purposes. 8 
Turning our attention from the practice to the agent 
herself, the witch, we find that the idea has undergone 
several changes in meaning. Her attributes vary with 
the social temperament and religious ideas of her wor- 
shipers and persecutors, but medieval Christianity gave 
her the definite shape in which she is now universally 
recognized. Our modern interpretation of the word 
witch was unknown in ancient times. The Hebrew used 
the word FW^Q (M e khash sheph) maleficus, juggler, 
poisoner, 'which the Septuagint and Josephus translate 
(papfiaKos , one who mixes drugs, a word used indiscrimi- 
nately of both sexes. This ancient meaning was also com- 
monly applied to the word by the Romans and used down 
through the first few centuries of the Christian era. As 
ages passed, the word witch was applied exclusively to the 
female sex and in the twelfth century a witch was defined 
as a " woman in collusion voluntarily or enforced with a 
demon" 9 by whose power she could work marvels and be 
transported through the air to the "Sabbat," but as yet 
there was no question of a formal pact. By this time, 
also, the witch had grown older, uglier and meaner, and 
from the fourteenth century the type of recognized 
witches varies only in detail. Reginald Scott's descrip- 
tion, written in 1643, may be taken as the typical one: 
"Witches be commonly old, lame, bleare-eied, pale, fowle 
and full of wrinkles; poore, sullen, superstitious; in 
whose drousie minds the devill hath goten a fine seat. 
They are lean and deformed, showing melancholie in 

8 Thurston, Catholic Encyclopedia, XV; art., Witchcraft. 

•Nevius, Demon Possession and Allied Themes. New York, 1896. 310. 



DEFINITIONS AND DESCRIPTIONS 11 

their faces to the horror of all that see them. They are 
doting, scolds, mad, divilish. no Glanvil, Chaplain in 
Ordinary to Charles II, writes : " A witch is one who can 
do or seems to do strange things, beyond the human 
power of art and ordinary nature, by vertue of a Con- 
federacy with evil Spirits. The Witch occasions, but 
is not the Principle Efficient, she seems to do it, but the 
Spirit performs the wonder, sometimes immediately, as 
in transportations and Possessions, sometimes using the 
Witch as an Instrument. And these things are done by 
vertue of a Covenant or Compact between the Witch 
andanEvilSpirit. ,m 

Careful comparison of facts shows that the ques- 
tion of a formal pact, signed by the witch with her 
blood, came into existence only in the thirteenth century, 
but became general during the fourteenth and fifteenth 
centuries. 12 This conception of the attributes of the witch 
was contributed to by the excesses of the various heretics, 
Gnostics, Manichaeans, Vaudois, who were so given to 
superstitious practices that witchcraft came to be re- 
garded by the Church as the worst form of heresy, which 
furnishes a possible explanation of the rigor with which 
churchmen persecuted all witches, no matter what their 
age or condition. This point will be taken up in a subse- 
quent chapter. 

An interesting question may occur to the reader, 
1 ' Why was witchcraft generally limited to women V 9 l ' To 
one wizard, a thousand witches" says an unknown writer 
of the time of Louis XIII. 13 The origin of this may be 
that in the East, where witchcraft was so prevalent, 
women were considered to be of an inferior order, not 
only on account of the weakness of their natural faculties, 
but also because of their natural inclination to wicked- 



10 Scott, Discoverie of Witchcraft, London, 1665, 58. 
"Glanvil, Sadducismus Triumphatus, London, 1726, 70. 
12 Ency. Theol. XX, 581, Magie. 
"Michelet, La Sorciere, Brussels and Leipsic, 1863, introd. VII. 



12 DEFINITIONS AND DESCRIPTIONS 

ness ; therefore they delighted in the magic arts. The early 
Fathers of the Church answered by assuming the weak- 
ness of womankind, their inherent wickedness, the fact 
that they are always curious to probe the unknown, 
always prone to fall into evil snares. A modern writer 
submits the following explanation: "Physically, the 
natural constitution of women renders their imaginative 
organs more excitable for the ecstatic conditions of 
prophetic or necromantic arts. On all occasions of re- 
ligious or other cerebral excitement, women are generally 
most easily reduced to the requisite state for the expected 
supernatural visitations. Their hysterical natures are 
sufficiently indicative of the origin of such halluci- 
nations. ' m 

The explanation given by Grimm in his "Deutsche 
Mythologie" might be applied to womankind in general. 
He says, "Our earliest antiquity has attributed the art 
(witchcraft) chiefly to women. The reason for this is 
to be sought for in all the outward and inward condi- 
tions. Women, not men, were entrusted with the selection 
and concoction of powerful means of healing, just as 
with the preparation of daily food; preparing salves, 
weaving linen, binding wounds, their soft, tender hands 
could do the best ; the art of writing and reading letters 
and words was assigned chiefly to women in the middle 
ages. The disturbed existence of men was filled with 
war, hunting, agriculture and manual labor, women had 
qualifications of experience and comfortable leisure to 
fit them for occult magic. The imaginative powers are 
warmer and more susceptible in women than in men, and 
hence an inward, holy power of sooth-saying has been 
attributed to them. Women were priestesses and sooth- 
sayers; somnambulism is still at the present day most 
common in women. Again, looked at from one point of 
view, we find that the art of magic belonged especially 

"Williams, Superstitions of Witchcraft. London, 1865, 57. 



DEFINITIONS AND DESCRIPTIONS 13 

to old women, who, dead as it were to love and work, 
gave up their whole time and thoughts to secret arts. 
Fancy, tradition, knowledge of means of healing, poverty 
and leisure have made witches out of women." 15 

After this exposition of the term witch, it may be use- 
ful to a further understanding of the subject, to investi- 
gate in detail the chief practice of witchcraft, the Sab- 
bat. This was perhaps the most characteristic of their 
sorceries and included the greater number of their mal- 
practices. The Sabbath or Sabbat, probably originated 
in France or Italy, though of this there is no certainty. 
The first allusion to it occurs in a fragment of canon law, 
not later than the tenth century, where it is treated as 
a diabolical delusion. "Some wicked women reverting 
to Satan and seduced by the illusions and phantasms of 
demons believe and profess that they ride at night with 
Diana on certain beasts with an innumerable multitude of 
women, passing over immense distances. It were well 
if they alone perished in their infidelity and did not draw 
so many along with them. For innumerable multitudes, 
deceived by this false opinion, believe all this to be true, 
and thus relapse into pagan errors. . . . It is to be 
taught to all that he who believes such things has lost 
his faith, and he who has not the true faith, is not of God, 
but of the devil. ,, This proclamation came to be attrib- 
uted to the Council of Ancyra, 314, but cannot be identi- 
fied with its decrees ; it is found in the work of Eegino of 
Priim (d.917), was adopted by canonists and embodied 
in the collections of Burchard, Ivo and Gratian, being 
known as the Canon Episcopi or Capitulum Episcopi. 16 
Thus the Church in the tenth century regarded the noc- 
turnal flight as a fiction and denounced belief in it as 
heretical. Side by side with the development of heresy, 
however, grew up tales of secret conventions, in which 
the sectaries worshiped the demon in the form of a 



18 Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, I; 84, 369; 85, 374. 
"Burchard, Decret, XI, 1. Gratian, Decret, II, XXVII, CV. 



14 DEFINITIONS AND DESCRIPTIONS 

goat or cat and celebrated their impious rites. Such 
stories were told of the Cathari in the eleventh century 
and of their successors in later times. 17 Bizouard states 
that from the eighth century, multitudes of women met at 
night to dance and attend banquets, but that probably 
to astonish credulous persons and to hide from good 
Christians the place of their reunion, they feigned to 
make the trip rapidly through the air, mounted on 
beasts. 18 In the thirteenth century the Dominican 
Thomas of Cantimpre speaks of demons who carry away 
women, replacing them with insensible images who are 
sometimes buried as dead. 19 

This belief was thoroughly implanted in the popular 
mind and when the wise-women were interrogated as to 
their dealings with Satan, they confessed, under great 
torture, their nocturnal flights. Between judge and vic- 
tim a coherent story was easily built up, combining the 
ancient popular belief with the heretical meetings and 
the time soon came when no witch's confession was com- 
plete without an account of her attendance at the Sabbat. 

Details of the Sabbat in different countries varied 
little, as can be seen from the testimony of the witches. 
The first act of the witch in preparation for the gather- 
ing was to secure a consecrated Host, by pretending to 
receive .Holy Communion and to carry It home. On this 
a toad was fed, which was afterwards burned and its 
ashes mixed with the blood of an unbaptized infant, the 
powdered bone of a man who had been hanged and with 
a certain herb. With this unguent, the witch anointed 
the palms of her hands, or her wrists, and a stick, on 
which she was immediately transported to the place of 
meeting — in Germany, the Brocken; in Sweden, the 
Blockula; in France, the Ardennes, and in Italy, a place 



"Migne, Patrologia Latina, CIX, 366. 

18 Bizouard, Des RaDports de 1'Homnie avec le Demon, Paris, 1863, 
I, 469. 

19 Thomas of Cantimpre, Bonum Universale, lib., II, c. 56. 



DEFINITIONS AND DESCRIPTIONS 15 

near Benevento. There were two classes of Sabbat, the 
great Sabbat, corresponding to the solemn feasts of 
Christianity and held in distant places, and the little 
Sabbat, of which the assistants were few and which was 
held in a village or hamlet. 20 For these meetings, the 
witches gathered from all places, according to their own 
testimony, some traveling on broomsticks, others mounted 
on demons in the shape of a goat, a dog or some other 
animal, 21 most of them taking some offering, such as an 
unbaptized child, to placate their evil master. 22 Satan 
generally celebrated a grotesque mockery of the Mass, 
where everything was done contrary to the holy Chris- 
tian Sacrifice — thus, for instance, the host used was black 
and triangular in form ; the ceremonies were impious and 
obscene. This hellish rite was followed by dancing and 
revelry, frequently by a banquet and, though they ate 
to satiety, they were still unsatisfied. Sometimes the 
bodies of children were burned or boiled and the fat 
was kept to be used in divination. At the close of the 
meeting, Satan usually addressed a discourse to his 
assembled servants ; he told them they had no souls, that 
there was no future life, they were not to go to church 
or confession, or if they did so, they must say, "By 
leave of our master.' ' He conjured them to do all the 
evil possible and at the following Sabbat he rewarded 
their diligence in that line, or punished those who had 
failed in obedience. Many of the witches testified to 
the severe punishments inflicted by their lord and master, 
upon those who failed to please or satisfy him. 

This Sabbat was only the pastime of the witch, her 
real occupation consisted in doing works of evil. Since 
she had abandoned herself soul and body to Satan, she 
was his chosen instrument for carrying out his malignant 



20 Bizouard, op. cit, I, 120. 

"Prierias, De Strigimagarum Daemonumque Mirandis, Rome, 1575, 
lib., I, c. XIV, 115. 

"Ivo, Decretum, XI, c. 56, p. 758. Quicumque nocturna sacrificia 
daemonum celebraverunt. 



16 DEFINITIONS AND DESCRIPTIONS 

purpose. This idea of the Sabbat and the witch's evil 
deeds prevailed to the eighteenth century and was one 
reason for the cruel persecutions which swept Europe 
periodically. We gain a clear idea of the powers the 
witch received from her master in the nocturnal gath- 
erings, from the writers who lived at the height of the 
persecution. Prierias, Master of the Sacred Palace, sums 
them up in his De Strigimagarum, written in 1521. 
He says, "Witches, by the aid of demons and by per- 
mission of God, are able to excite great storms of hail, 
wind, and rain. 23 They bring plagues of locusts which 
destroy the harvests, they render men impotent and 
women barren, and cause horses to become mad under 
their riders. They can make hidden things known, bring 
about love or hatred, work evil to men and beasts either 
by touch or by a secret powder. ' m 

A strange power ascribed to the witches was that of 
banqueting at the Sabbat on infants and cattle, which 
they afterwards restored to life. As a general thing, 
those thus restored died a short time after. The killing 
of unbaptized infants was one of the special duties im- 
posed by Satan and many of the old women, employed as 
midwives, confessed that they had killed numbers of 
babes and used their fat and bone in some of their dire 
incantations. When the witch midwives abstained from 
this, they dedicated the new-born babes to Satan ; this is 
the reason why children of eight or ten years were able 
to bewitch people and to raise tempests of hail or rain. 25 
Some of these children, notably in Sweden, where a hun- 
dred or more declared themselves to have been carried 
off to the Sabbat, confessed that if when they arrived 
at the place of assembly, they uttered the name of God 
or the Blessed Virgin, everything disappeared. This 
same testimony was given by some of the women, who 



"Prierias, op. cit. lib., Ill, c. 7, p. 179, 180. 

24 Id., Ill, c. 9. 

25 Malleus Maleficarum, 1487, P. II, 2, I. 



DEFINITIONS AND DESCRIPTIONS 17 

likewise said that they received the devil's mark on cer- 
tain parts of the body which made them insensible to 
pain. This fact was of great use in condemning a suspect, 
because if a pin or other sharp instrument was thrust 
into the skin and no pain was felt, it was a sure sign that 
the person was a witch, marked with the devil's seal. 26 

From the consideration of these various evil acts at- 
tributed to the witch, it is easy to see how the popular 
terror defended itself by torture and persecution. One 
never knew who might be a witch, it might be one's 
nearest and dearest, hence the best solution of the diffi- 
culty was to apply the test. Every misfortune and acci- 
dent in a village was attributed to witchcraft. Suspicion 
would fasten on some ill-natured old woman and she 
would be seized and tried. Then all the neighbors would 
appear as accusers: "this one had lost a cow, that one's 
vintage had been ruined by hail, another's garden patch 
had been ravaged by caterpillars, a mother had lost a 
promising child, two lovers had quarreled, a man had 
fallen from an apple-tree and had broken his neck — and 
under the persuasive influence of starvation or of the 
rack the unfortunate woman would invent some story to 
account for each occurrence, would name her accomplices 
in each and tell whom she had met at the Sabbats, which 
she attended regularly." 27 

This enumeration of the practices associated with 
witchcraft is sufficient to give a general idea of the con- 
ditions with which the Church had to deal in her efforts 
to exterminate paganism and raise the moral standard. 



26 Nider, Formicarius, Augsburg, 1476; Lib., V, c. 7. 
"Lea, History of the Inquisition in the Middle Ages, New York, 
1887, III, 508. 



CHAPTER II 

ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF WITCHCRAFT 

Few things are so indestructible as a superstitious 
belief once fairly implanted in the minds of men. It 
passes from one race to another, is handed down from 
one generation to the next; it adapts itself successively 
to every form of religion and though persecution may 
stifle its outward manifestation, it will continue to be 
cherished in secret, all the more earnestly perhaps, be- 
cause it is unlawful. These statements are particularly 
true of the occult arts, which exercised such an influence 
over the life and actions of the peoples of antiquity as 
well as over those of later times. From the earliest 
periods of which we have records, there have been prac- 
titioners of magic, credited with the powers of divina- 
tion, of control over the laws of nature and of inter- 
course with the spirit world. These practitioners of the 
occult, the witches of later times, were found among the 
Babylonians, Egyptians, Persians and Jews as well as 
among the Greeks and Romans ; the evil spirits they con- 
trolled were supposed to be either of supernatural origin, 
as it was believed among the Babylonians, or the souls 
of the damned seeking revenge, as the Egyptians held. 
The barriers separating the material from the spiritual 
world were considered flimsy and communication between 
them was so frequent that it caused no comment. Thus 
the medieval belief in the possibility of intercourse be- 
tween men and demons was but the voicing of a belief 
which had existed for centuries. "The Assyrians had 
their Lil and Lilit, the Gauls their Dusii, spirits of either 
sex . . . while the Welsh legends of the middle ages 
show the continuance of the belief among the Celtic tribes. 
The Jews had their legends of Lilith, the first wife of 
Adam and mother of a great multitude of demons. The 

18 



ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF WITCHCRAFT 19 

hero worship of Greece consisted mainly in this inter- 
course and the simpler Eoman religion had its Fauns and 
Sylvans, who, according to St. Augustine, were commonly 
called incubi. ' ,28 

Witchcraft and magic played a conspicuous part in 
Babylon and Egypt, as existing records show. The Code 
of Hammurabi (2000 B. C.) appointed the ordeal of water 
for a man accused of witchcraft and for his accuser. If 
the accused was drowned, his property went to the ac- 
cuser ; if he was saved, the accuser was put to death and 
his property went to the accused. 29 Great stress was laid 
on the power of words, the utterance of a hidden name, or 
the mere existence of the name on an amulet or stone. 
Magic was supposed to be the triumph of intellect over 
matter, the word was the key to the mysteries of the 
physical world ; if the name of a malignant influence was 
uttered, its power was undone ; if the name of a benevo- 
lent deity was spoken, force went out to destroy the ad- 
versary. 30 Another prevalent idea was that of substitu- 
tion; that is, the person to be affected by the spell was re- 
placed by his image, generally in wax, over which the 
incantations were said. The magic circle used almost 
universally was a mimic wall against the wicked spirits 
outside and originated in Chaldea under the name of 
usurtu, made with a sprinkling of lime and flour. 31 These 
same ideas seem to persist in the magic practices of all 
peoples both of pre-Christian and Christian times, though 
it cannot be said that one national system of magic de- 
pended upon another. 

After Babylonia, Egypt was foremost in magic ; exor- 
cisms against all sorts of diseases are found in the records 
and ancient Egyptian literature abounds in references 
to the occult art. 32 Yet in Egypt the magic used seems to 

2( %iea, op. cit., Vol. Ill, 383; Augustine, De Civitate Dei, XIV, c. 23. 

29 Arendzen, Cath. Ency., XI.; art., Occult Arts. 

80 Ibid. 

81 Ibid. 

32 Ibid. 



20 ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF WITCHCRAFT 

have been chiefly of a medicinal character and not prac- 
tised for the working of evil. Egyptian legend spoke of 
a magician Teta, who worked miracles before Cheops 
(3800 B. C.) and Greek tradition tells of Nectanebus, 
last native king of Egypt (358 B. C.) as the greatest of 
magicians. 33 

The Jews were firm believers in magic, as is evi- 
denced by the strict laws against it and by the warnings 
of the prophets. 34 The Hebrews had many classes of 
practitioners, among them the At, or charmer; the As- 
shaph, or sorcerer ; the Ob or Baal Ob, the consulter with 
evil spirits (the Witch of Endor was a Baalath Ob) ; the 
Chober Chaber, or worker with spells and ligatures, and 
many others. 35 Despite the prohibitions, Jewish magic 
flourished, especially jnst before the birth of Christ, 
while Origen testifies that in his time to adjure demons 
was looked upon as specifically Jewish and that these 
adjurations had to be made in Hebrew and from Solo- 
mon's books. 36 

The Aryan races of Asia were somewhat less addicted 
to magic practices than the Semitic races, yet the Per- 
sians, after their conquest of the Chaldean Empire, ab- 
sorbed the magical practices as well as other Chaldean 
characteristics. The Indians were originally free from 
this practice, but later adopted it, and the Yatudhana, or 
sorcerer of the Vedas, seems to have possessed powers 
virtually the same as those of the medieval sorcerer ; he 
could, through magic, cause the death of his enemies, 
destroy their crops and herds and by charmed images 
(figurines) produce illness or other evils. 37 

In Europe, the Greeks, Eomans, Teutons, and Celts 
were all practitioners to a greater or less degree, of the 
magic arts. At first the magic of the Greeks consisted 

^Arendzen, Cath. Ency., XI, Art., Occult Arts. 

34 Deut, XVIII, 10; Mich., V, 11. 

"Lea, op. cit, 388. 

3e Arendzen, loc. cit.; Migne P. G., XIII, 1757. 

* 7 Lea, op. cit., Ill, 387. 



ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF WITCHCRAFT 21 

chiefly in attributing supernatural power to inanimate 
things ; they had little need to invoke evil spirits, nor 
did they understand the distinction of illicit means for 
unjust ends, since their gods were subject to all the 
weaknesses of mortals and were supposedly ever ready 
to use their power, irrespective of justice and morality. 
Goetic magic — the invocation of malignant spirits for 
wrongful ends — explains such practices as were attrib- 
uted to the Cretan Dactyls, to Medea, to Circe and to 
Hecate. 38 The last-named, though originally a foreign 
deity, was the patroness of witches and represents the 
concentrated essence of witchcraft. Hecate worship was 
universal in Greece, though the rites varied in different 
parts of the country. Her statues were erected before 
houses and at cross-roads and such Hecatea were con- 
sulted as oracles. When foreign elements had almost 
destroyed the old religion, Hecate still held her rights 
and was frequently invoked even by strangers. She was 
invariably hideous, though her appearance varied with 
circumstances and she may be said to be more typical of 
the later developments of the witch than of those of her 
own day. 

The Greeks regarded the witches of Thessaly as the 
most noted and possessed of the greatest learning. They 
were skilled in the making of magic salves, in the use 
of poisons, and in the moudling of effigies. They were 
perhaps less awful than Hecate, but none the less feared, 
especially on account of their practice of using the flesh 
of the dead for their concoctions and philters. 

Grecian witchcraft received a new impulse at the 
time of the Persian wars, for with Darius and Xerxes 
were introduced the magic practices of the Zoroastrians. 
Later, after the Greek invasions of Persia and Assyria, 
Chaldean thought so completely influenced Greece that the 
word Chaldean came to be synonymous with magician 

"Odyss., X, 211-396; Ovid, Metam., VII, 365-367. 



22 ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF WITCHCRAFT 

or sorcerer. With this foreign occupation of Hellenic 
soil, the witch became more dangerous, because she con- 
centrated her malignity on one object, and thus became 
an instrument of private vengeance and a force detri- 
mental to social welfare. This change in the ancient con- 
ception of a witch was natural enough, for in Chaldea 
women took a foremost part in practising the worst kinds 
of magic. Little by little, Grecian witchcraft became so 
complex that it embraced everything popularly associated 
with the word, including a complete understanding of 
hallucinations, dreams, divinations, as well as a knowl- 
edge of the uses of waxen images, useful poisons, and 
narcotics. Witchcraft was too closely connected with 
religion to meet with much adverse criticism, and though 
some laws existed against it, the Greek witch had little 
to fear from persecution, and her medieval sister might 
well regard the days of Hellas as her golden age. 

The Eomans, like the Greeks, imported some of their 
witchcraft from abroad ; as in Greece, too, the character- 
istics of a witch were in some respects identical with those 
of a goddess. The gods of the lower world furnished 
a link between the ceremonies of the priest and the incan- 
tations of the witch, for while they were the objects of 
worship to the pious, they were also the customary 
sources of the magician's power. Lucan's witch Erichtho 
works her spells with the bones and ashes of the dead, she 
wanders among tombs, from which she draws their 
shades. 39 Horace 's Canidia and Sagana seek their power 
at the same source and the description of their evil 
doings bears a great resemblance to that which was at- 
tributed to witches sixteen centuries later. In all allu- 
sions to Roman sorcery, the deities invoked are infernal 
and the rites are celebrated at night. 40 The waxen image 
of the person to be assailed, familiar to Hindu, Egyptian, 
and Greek sorcery, assumes in Eome the shape in which 

"Lucan, Pharsalia, VI, 507-528; 534-537; 567-569. 
"Horace, Satires, I, VIII; Epod, V. 



ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF WITCHCRAFT 23 

it is found in the middle ages. If a mortal disease was 
to be induced in a victim, a needle was thrust into the 
corresponding part of the image; if he was to waste 
away with an incurable malady, the figure was melted 
with incantations before a fire 41 It must be observed that 
the magician was almost always an old woman, the saga, 
strix or volatica, corresponding to the hag who almost 
monopolized witchcraft in medieval Europe. The male 
sorcerer in Rome, like his modern descendant, had the 
power of transforming himself into a wolf and was thus 
the prototype of the werewolves, who form a picturesque 
feature in the history of witchcraft. 42 Philters and charms 
for exciting desire or arousing hatred were prevalent and 
the witches gained skill in the use of poisons, which art 
gradually became widespread in practice, as can be 
proved by the many laws enacted against poisoners. 
As morality was enforced by the Roman laws upon social 
rather than religious grounds, witchcraft was forbidden 
only in so far as it interfered with the welfare of the 
state, and even, when later some kinds of magic were 
forbidden, it was still considered not unlawful to use 
certain magical rites to cure disease or save the harvest. 

As the influence of Greek thought on Roman life in- 
creased, the Roman idea of witchcraft was modified. Ori- 
ental magic came in by way of Greece, and at Rome 
Egyptian witches were much honored and often con- 
sulted. It is impossible to determine when Diana came 
to be regarded as queen of the witches, holding a similar 
position to that of Hecate in Greece, but a fragment dat- 
ing from the ninth century describes her as present at the 
witches ' Sabbat. 43 

The emperors held divergent views on the matter of 
witchcraft, and though officially many of them forbade 
magic, yet unofficially they were not averse to making 



"Ovid, Amor., Ill, VII, 29-34; Horace, Sat, I, VIII, 29-32, 42-43. 
4 -Augustine, op. cit., XVIII, c. 18. 
"P. L., CXXXII, 352. 



24 ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF WITCHCRAFT 

use of such practices themselves. The darker practices 
of magic, however, were repressed with relentless rigor 
and the performance of nocturnal rites with the object of 
bewitching any one was punished with the severest pen- 
alties known to Eoman law, crucifixion or the beasts. 4 * 
With the triumph of Christianity the circle of forbidden 
practices was greatly enlarged. Constantine in 319, 
threatened with burning the haruspex who ventured to 
cross another's threshold even on the pretext of friend- 
ship. Constans went a step farther than his predecessor 
and issued a number of laws destined to destroy the 
pagan cult, but above all to root out magic. He declared 
that since sorcerers were enemies of the human race, 
they were to be tortured in a measure befitting their 
crime. 45 During the short reigns of Julian the Apostate 
and Jovian, sorcerers and diviners profited by the favor 
of the former and the tolerance of the latter. Valentinian 
I and his brother Valens adopted measures for the rapid 
destruction of paganism. In 364 Valentinian prohibited 
nocturnal assemblies, magic ceremonies and sacrifice to 
demons ; in 373, in concert with his brother he instituted 
a persecution against diviners. 46 The succeeding em- 
perors followed the same rule and in 409 Honorius 
ordered all the mathematicians (astrologers) to leave 
Eome and the cities of the empire, to burn their books, 
and swear fidelity to the Christian religion. Yet the laws 
were not rigidly executed, and the Eoman empire was 
divided among the barbarian tribes without crushing 
from the hearts of the people their faith in divination 
or their belief in magic, distinguished only in degree from 
the cult of the gods and destined to become in the future 
the cult of demons. 



"Livy, XXXIX, 41; Tacit. Annal., II, 32; IV, 22, 52; XVI, 28-31- 
Seneca, Quest. Natural., IV, c. 7; LL., XII Tab., VIII. 

* 6 Maury, La Magie et l'Astrologie dans l'Antiquite et au Moyen Age 
Paris, 1862, Vol. III. 

"Beugnot, Histoire de la destruction du paganisme en Occident, 
Paris, 1824, II, 235. 



ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF WITCHCRAFT 25 

The barbarians brought with them their own supersti- 
tions, to which they readily added such as they found 
among their new subjects, yet the Ostrogoths, who occu- 
pied Italy soon became so romanized that they adopted 
and enforced the Eoman laws against magic. The Visi- 
goths who settled in Aquitaine and Spain, though less 
civilized than the eastern branch, were also influenced by 
Eoman legislation and their chiefs repeatedly issued laws 
against the forbidden practices of magic. The penalties, 
however, were less rigid than those imposed by the 
Romans. The usual punishment for those who invoked 
demons or produced storms, or used charms to injure men 
and cattle, was scourging with 200 lashes, or shaving 
followed by imprisonment. These provisions remained 
the law of the Spanish peninsula until the fourteenth 
century. 47 

Druidism seems to have been the religion of the Celts 
when they settled in Gaul, and druidism, in common with 
all polytheistic religions, had added magic rites to its 
primitive teachings. 48 Little is known of the magic prac- 
tices of these people except that they had much respect 
for divination and for the mistletoe; their druidesses 
were held in great veneration and the people believed 
they could raise and quiet storms. 49 

Of all the invaders of western Europe, the Teutonic 
tribes had the least to learn from the conquered peoples 
in the matter of magic arts, for probably in no other race 
has the supernatural formed a larger portion of daily 
life. Divination was practiced extensively, gifted beings 
could fortell the future by second sight or by incanta- 
tions; the Vala or prophetess was worshiped as super- 
human. 50 The Norse sagas give a clear idea of the im- 
portant part played by the sorcerers or magicians in the 



4T M. G. H., LL.; Wisigoth, II, IV, 1; VI, 4. 

48 Cauzons, La Magie et la Sorcellerie en France, Paris, 1909, II, 60. 

49 Duruy, Historie des Romains, Paris, 1883; III, 118. 

M Grimm, op. cit, III, 1028; Tacitus, Germania, VIII. 



26 ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF WITCHCRAFT 

Teutonic lands of the Baltic. 51 Philtres and love-potions 
causing desire, indifference or hatred were among the 
ordinary resources of Norse magic. Invocation of malig- 
nant spirits was left to women, generally known as 
"riders of the night,' ' the same idea with regard to 
witches that we find prevalent in the fourteenth and fif- 
teenth centuries. In the oldest text of the Salic law, 
which shows no trace of Christian influence, the only allu- 
sion to sorcery is a fine of eighty-nine sols imposed for 
calling a woman a witch or for stigmatizing a man as one 
who carries the caldron of a witch. 52 One of the most 
terrifying powers of the Teutonic witch, as well as of 
her Eoman sister, was her cannibalism, which is referred 
to in the Salic law and in the legislation of Charlemagne. 
The trolla-thing, or nocturnal gathering of witches, where 
they danced and sang and prepared their magic potions, 
was a customary observance of these wise-women, espe- 
cially on the 1st of May (St. Walpurgis' Night), which 
was the great festival of heathendom. 53 This idea later 
developed into that of the witches ' Sabbat, a feature com- 
mon to the superstition of many races, the origin of 
which cannot be attributed to any one people. 

The practice of witchcraft was deemed infamous by all 
these barbarians, yet the mere addiction to it in pagan 
times was not a penal offence and penalties were only in- 
flicted for injuries thus committed on person or property. 
The codified laws of the barbarians never decreed the 
death penalty, fines being the universal punishment for 
crime. As mentioned above, the earliest code of the Salic 
law provides no general penalty for witchcraft. The 
Eipuarian code treats murder by witchcraft, like any 
other homicide, to be punished by the ordinary wergild, 
and for injuries thus inflicted it provides a fine of 100 sols, 
which penalty might be avoided by compurgation with 

sl Saxo Grammaticus, I, 25; II, 50; V, 48. Translated by Elton, 
London, 1894. 

62 M. G. H., LL. Salic. Tit., XIV. 
e3 Grimm, op. cit, III, 1044, 1050. 



ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF WITCHCRAFT 27 

six compurgators. 54 The other codes are silent on the 
subject. 

In English history witchcraft in a vague and general 
sense is something very old; the word witchcraft itself 
dates from Anglo-Saxon days, but the idea was not clearly 
defined in the minds of ordinary Englishmen until after 
the beginning of severe legislation upon the subject, in 
the fifteenth century. As early as the seventh century, 
however, Theodore of Tarsus imposed penances upon 
magicians and enchanters and the laws, from Alfred the 
Great on, frequently mentioned the subject. 55 From these 
passages, the meaning of the word witch may be deduced, 
namely, one who used spells and charms and who was 
assisted by evil spirits to accomplish certain ends. Noth- 
ing was yet said about the transformation of witches into 
other shapes nor was there any mention of a compact 
with Satan, nor any allusion to the nocturnal meetings 
or Sabbats. These ideas, which were already prevalent 
in Europe, reached England probably in the fourteenth 
century. 

Such were the beliefs and practices of the races with 
which the Church had to deal in her efforts to obliterate 
paganism and sorcery. How far in particular cases the 
power of the devil extends over man and the visible mani- 
festations of nature, is a question which has occupied 
theologians from the earliest to the present times, the 
Church itself has not spoken decisively on the matter. 
Since, however, most of the heresies were mixed up with 
superstitious ideas, the shepherds of the Church, as well 
as the councils, were compelled at times to take measures 
against heretical teaching, against magic and sorcery, 
against popular superstition and against pagan or semi- 
pagan beliefs. What such measures were will be shown in 
the following chapters. 



M M. G. H., LL. Salic. Tit., XXII. 

"Thorpe, Ancient Laws and Institutes of England, London, 1840, 
I, 41. Wright, A Contemporary Narrative of the Proceedings Against 
Dame Alice Kyteler. London, 1843, introd. I-III. 



CHAPTER III 

THE CHURCH, 1-800 A. D. 

From earliest Christian times, teachers of the Church, 
relying on the Old and New Testaments, 56 contended or 
taught that the warrant for belief in the existence of evil 
spirits and their influence on human beings belonged to 
revealed religion and that neither the possibility nor the 
reality of such intercourse could be questioned. The 
Church Fathers fully agreed in regarding demons as the 
actual instigators of magic. They taught, however, that 
man might be protected against the enticements of the 
evil one, by recourse to the Sacraments and other spir- 
itual aids of the Church. On the other hand they held 
that man could voluntarily enter the devil 's service and by 
apostasy make a compact with the spirit of darkness. 
Apostasy of this sort and such full surrender to the 
powers and kingdom of the devil, which often went to the 
length of worship of Satan, constituted the worst form of 
heresy, and merited severe punishment. It should be 
remembered that European Christianity existed for cen- 
turies side by side with paganism; Manichaeism intro- 
duced the devil-worship of Persia into the Christian west 
and the Germanic nations brought with them belief in 
intercourse with devils. Thus the false ideas never en- 
tirely disappeared and most of the heresies were mixed 
with superstitious beliefs. The various tribes, Goths, 
Franks, Saxons, after their conversion, though nominally 
Christians, yet retained many of their pagan ideas, chief 
among which was their belief in the intercourse with 
spirits. 

For the early Christians, the entire world was divided 
between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. 

B9 Leviticus, XX, 27; I Kings, XXVIII, 10; Acts, VIII, 9-24; XIII, 8; 
XVI, 16; XIX, 13, 15. 

28 



THE CHURCH, 1-800 A. D. 29 

In the pagan religion, with its gorgeous rites, its mysteri- 
ous ceremonies, they saw the special work of the devil 
and were persuaded that many of its boasted prodigies 
were real. They explained this fact by saying that the 
world was full of malignant demons who persecuted and 
deluded mankind, whose powers had been manifested 
from the earliest times to New Testament days, and that 
among the heathen these spirits were worshiped as 
divine. This doctrine was strengthened by the Neo-Pla- 
tonic School which taught that the immediate objects of 
the devotion of the pagans were spirits of finite power 
and imperfect morality, angels, or as then termed, de- 
mons, who acted as mediators between God and man. 
This word " demon,' ' which among the pagans signified 
only a spirit inferior to a divinity, was taken by the Chris- 
tians, many of whom were either Jews or Greeks living in 
the midst of those who professed some or other of the old 
Oriental religions, to mean a devil. 

The attitude of the early Church towards this question 
of magic and sorcery may be learned from the writings 
of the Fathers. The ante-Nicene Fathers did not deal 
with the subject of magic in its various phases but con- 
cerned themselves principally with the relation between 
the devil and idolatry and with the power of Satan over 
human beings. They give us not only the beliefs and 
idolatrous practices of their times, but also the views held 
and taught by the Church respecting the character of 
demons, the limits of their agency, and the manner in 
which they deceive men. St. Paul teaches that the con- 
nection of demons with the worship of idols is a reality, 
"the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to 
demons and not to God. ' ,57 He also speaks of witchcraft 
as a work of the flesh. 58 The letter of Barnabas, exhort- 
ing his readers to walk in the path of salvation, speaks of 
two ways, one of light, where are found the angels of God, 

"I Corinthians, X, 20. 
"Galatians, V, 19, 20. 



30 THE CHURCH, 1-800 A. D. 

the other of darkness, where are the angels of Satan. 
The writer then explains in detail; in the way of dark- 
ness or eternal death, are found all those things which 
cause men to lose their souls, among such acts are homi- 
cide, idolatry, pride, poisoning, magic, 59 which are to be 
detested and avoided with the greatest care. The author 
of the Shepherd of Hermas advises Christians not to fear 
the devil, but to fear God and, fearing Him, they will rule 
the devil, because he will have no power over them. He 
continues, "Fearing God, you will fear the works of the 
devil, idolatry, divination, etc., and you will abstain from 
doing them. ' ' 60 

Later Tatian wrote to the Greeks that frequently those 
who were sick, or in love, or who through hatred wished 
to be revenged accepted the demons as helpers. These 
demons by their arts turned men aside from the pious 
acknowledgment of God and led them to place confidence 
in herbs and roots. 61 Tertullian in his treatise on the 
soul, asks "What shall we say about magic? Say, to be 
sure, it is an imposture. It is a manifold pest of the 
mind, the destroyer of our salvation and our soul at one 
swoop.' ' Again he says that there is hardly a human 
being who is unattended by a demon, and it is well known 
to many that premature and violent deaths which men 
ascribe to accidents are in fact brought about by de- 
mons. 62 Irenaeus writing in the second century speaks of 
philtres and love-potions given to women by the heretic 
Marcus. 63 Hippolytus, as quoted by Origen in his Contra 
Haereses, speaks of magic practices and shows their con- 
nection with heresy, because, he says, "heresiarchs, aston- 
ished at the art of the sorcerers, have imitated them." 



59 Barnabas, Epistula XVIII-XXI, ed II. Funk, Patres Apostolici. 

•"Hermas, Mandatum XII. ed II Funk, op. cit. 

fll P. G. VI, 826, 839. 

"Corpus Scriptorum Bcclesiasticorum Latinorum, Leipsic, 1890. 
Vol. XX, De Anima, 391. 

63 P. G. VII, Contra Haereses, 1. I, Cap. 13, De Marci praestigiis et 
nefariis artibus. 



THE CHURCH, 1-800 A. D. 31 

He gives many examples of the magician's art, as he de- 
sires to warn the multitude, that they may not be deceived 
by the arts of the magicians. 64 

Athanasius declares that the sign of the cross makes 
the illusions of the devil vanish and says that if any one 
wishes to make a trial of this let him come amidst the 
delusions of the devil and the impostures of magic and 
use the sign of the cross, then he will see how the devils 
fly away and the enchantments of magic remain destitute 
of their usual force. 65 St. John Chrysostom also speaks 
of the power the demons possess over human beings, by 
the permission of God, which power serves for the punish- 
ment of the wicked and the justification of the good. 66 

St. Augustine, to whom frequent reference was made 
in later centuries, has much to say regarding the nature 
and power of demons. According to him, we must believe 
them to be spirits eager to inflict harm, utterly alien from 
righteousness, swollen with pride, subtle in deceit, who 
dwell in the air as in a prison. They tyrannize over 
many men, who are unworthy of participation in the true 
religion. 67 He declares the magic art to be impious, as it 
is dependent on the assistance of malign spirits. 68 In 
Book XXI of the City of God, he says that devils seduce 
men, either by imbuing their hearts with a secret poison 
or by revealing themselves under a friendly guise and 
thus make a few of them their disciples, who in turn be- 
come the instructors of the multitude. Hence the origin 
of magic and magicians. They possess the hearts of men 
and are chiefly proud of this possession when they trans- 
form themselves into angels of light. Many things, 
therefore, are their doing and these deeds of theirs we 
ought the more carefully to shun as we acknowledge them 

64 P. G. XVI, L IV, cap. XXVIII. 

65 Id. XXV. Oratio de Incarnatione Verbi, 1. I, 119. 

66 S. Chrysostomi, Opera, Paris, 1839, Vol. II, 290, 306. 

87 Augustine, op. cit, lib. VIII, c. 22. 

w Id., c. 19. 



32 THE CHURCH, 1-800 A. D. 

to be very surprising. 69 With regard to the transforma- 
tion of persons into animals, which later became an im- 
portant part of witchcraft, Augustine says that he heard 
of such from good authority, but that he thinks if the 
demons really do these things, they do not create real 
substances, but only change the appearance of things so 
as to make them seem what they are not. 70 

The next writer of note to take up the question of 
magic and witchcraft was Isidore of Seville, who in 630 
wrote an encyclopedic work, entitled Origines or Etymol- 
ogiae, which is a compendium of the knowledge of his 
time and was of the greatest importance for the historical 
literature of the later Middle Ages. In this book he 
speaks of women who bind themselves to serve Satan, 
who steal children, and who work harm to their neighbors 
by spells and charms. He also mentions women who are 
able to produce storms and who can change themselves 
or others into animals. 71 

Another source of information is the writings of the 
Popes. Pope Eusebius in 309 wrote that homicides, 
witches, thieves, etc., were not to be admitted as accusers 
or witnesses in trials. 72 In 494 Pope Gelasius I wrote to 
the bishops of Lucania, that illiterate persons, sorcerers 
and demoniacs were not to be admitted to Holy Orders. 73 
Pope Gregory I in April, 595, wrote to the Deacon Cyp- 
rian of Syracuse, concerning his predecessor Maximilian, 
who, it was said, had been denied by witchcraft, enjoining 
on Cyprian to take strong measures against the supersti- 
tion. In July, 599, he wrote to Bishop Januarius of 
Sardinia to hunt out diviners, sorcerers, and worshipers 
of idols, and openly preach against them. If any one, in 
spite of the warning, persisted in the use of such arts, he 

69 Augustine, op. cit, lib. XXI, c. 6. 
70 Id., XVIII, c. 18. 
"P. L. LXXXII, 311. 
"Id. VII, 1110. 

"Thiel, Bpistolae Romanorum Pontificum Genuinae, Braunsberg, 
1898, I, 492. 



THE CHURCH, 1-800 A. D. 33 

should be punished by scourging, if a slave; if free, he 
should do penance. 74 Two years later the same Pope 
wrote to the notary Adrian of Palermo to diligently seek 
out enchanters and sorcerers and such enemies of Christ 
and punish them severely, "Studii enim tui sit, sollicite 
(incantatores et sortilegos) quaerere, et quoscumque 
huiusmodi Christi inimicos inveneris districta ultione 
corrigere." 75 In 716, Pope Gregory II instructed his 
nuncio to Bavaria to proceed with great strictness against 
soothsayers, witches and augurers. 76 

The practice of invoking the evil spirit for magic rites, 
prevalent among pagans, was finally adopted by many 
Christians, hence we find the Church legislating in regard 
to witchcraft and its allied practices, magic and sorcery. 
The question of witchcraft was introduced into the Church 
synods as early as 300, when the synod of Elvira decreed 
that any one who killed another by witchcraft, should 
not receive Communion at the hour of death. "Si quis 
maleficio interficiat alterum, eo quod sine idololatria per- 
ficere scelus non potuit, nee in finem impertiendam illi 
esse communionem. ' m The oriental synod of Ancyra 
(314) threatened with five years' penance, soothsayers 
and those who made use of magic remedies. 78 A second 
oriental synod, that of Laodicaea (375) declared excom- 
municate priests and clerics who employed ligatures or 
amulets and forbade them to be magicians, enchanters or 
astrologers. 79 

From the fifth century the synods grew more numer- 
ous, and in many of the decrees we find enactments re- 
gardin witchcraft or sorcery. We notice that the council 
of Aries (443 or 452) forbade the adoration of trees, fields 



*M. G. H. Gregori I papae, Registrum Epistolarum, II, 183, 185. 

6 Id. Epis. II, p. II, 302. 

8 Mansi, Collectio Amplissima Conciliorum, Paris, 1901, XII, 257. 

7 Hefele-Leclercq, Histoire des Conciles, Tom. I, p. 1, 225. 

8 Id., op cit, 324. 

»Id., op. cit, I, p. II, 1018. 



34 THE CHURCH, 1-800 A. D. 

and springs. 80 The provincial council of Yannes in Brit- 
tany (465) and that of Agde in Languedoc (506) decreed 
excommunication against clerics and laics who sought 
the help of witches. 81 The councils of Orleans and Auxerre 
(511, 533, 541, 573, 603) were equally strict with regard to 
soothsayers. 82 The provincial council of Elusa (551) de- 
termined that witches or sorcerers, if they were of high 
rank, should be excommunicated, if slaves, they were to be 
flogged by the magistrate. 83 The council of Tours (567) 
forbade the reverencing of certain rocks, trees or foun- 
tains and such heathenish superstitions. 8 * The diocesan 
synods of Auxerre (578), Narbonne (589), Rheims (624 
or 630), 85 Rouen (650) forbade the use of sorcery, of the 
sortes sanctorum 86 and of the superstitious observance of 
January first. 

In Spain the synod of Braga (563) decreed that if any- 
one believed that the devil could produce by his own 
power, thunder, lightning, storms, and drought as Priscil- 
lian taught, he was to be anathema. 87 The council of To- 
ledo (633) declared that every cleric who consulted divin- 
ers or witches should be deposed and imprisoned in a 
monastery to do perpetual penance. 88 A second council 
in the same city (693) declared that bishops and priests 
should root out the remnants of paganism, which con- 
sisted in making use of charms and exercising magic ; if 
they were not zealous in this work, they were to be de- 
posed and excommunicated for a year. Lay persons who 
gave themselves to magic practices were to pay three 
pounds of gold, but if of humble station, they were to 

80 Mansi, op. cit, VI, 881. 

81 Id., VII, 955; VIII, 332. 

82 Hefele-Leclercq, op. cit., II, p. II, 1014. 

83 Id., Ill, p. I, 166. 

84 Id., 191. 

85 Id., 214-221; 228-230; 260-264. 

86 The sortes sanctorum consisted in opening the Bible or works of 
the Church Fathers and taking the first verse the eye lighted upon as 
an answer to a question. 

87 Helefe-Leclercq, op. cit, III, p. I, 177. 

88 Id., 271. 



THE CHURCH, 1-800 A. D. 35 

receive 100 lashes. 89 The eastern synod of Trullo (692) 
decreed that anyone who questioned a magician concern- 
ing the future should be punished for six years ; this same 
synod also forbade the observance of the Brumalia and 
all pagan customs. 90 The last synod of the seventh cen- 
tury, dealing with the subject in question was held at 
Berghamstead, England (697). This synod declared that 
whoever sacrificed to the devil should have his goods con- 
fiscated, if a slave, he was to pay six solidi or be 
scourged. 91 

A council summoned in Eome by Pope Gregory II in 
721, declared excommunicate those who consulted sooth- 
sayers or witches or who wore amulets. 92 A second coun- 
cil in Borne in 743 prohibited all pagan observances in- 
cluding the Brumalia (a name for the Roman feast of 
Saturnalia), the wearing of amulets and ligatures, divina- 
tion, sorcery and cognate superstitions. 93 The synod of 
Liftina (743 or 745) forbade the wearing of amulets and 
ligatures. 94 Boniface, of Cologne (745) ordained that 
any priest or cleric who used soothsaying, divination or 
ligatures should receive canonical punishment. 95 By the 
Council of Worms (786) soothsayers and magicians were 
made slaves of the Church. 96 In the previous year the syn- 
ods of Paderborn and Attigny decreed that those who, de- 
ceived by the devil, believed in pagan superstitions, were 
witches, and if such persons ate human flesh or caused 
others to eat it, they were to be put to death. 97 In 789 
the synod of Aachen forbade magic practices to priests 
and clerics according to the canons of Laodicaea. 98 The 
most stringent legislation of the period was the edict 



89 Hefele-Leclercq, op. cit, III, par. I, 583. 

"Id., 570. 

91 Id., 589. 

92 Mansi, op. cit, XII, 261. 

e3 Hefele-Leclercq, op. cit., Ill, p. II, 852. 

94 Id., 838. 

85 Mansi, XII, 386. 

9e Hefele-Lechercq, III, p. II, 994. 

"Id., 992. 

* 8 Id., 1027-1034. 



36 THE CHURCH, 1-800 A. D. 

of Charlemagne between 790 and 799, which handed over 
to the Church the matter of superstitions practices and 
ordered the archpriest of each diocese to examine those 
who were accused of sorcery and to imprison them until 
they confessed and promised to amend." In his attempts 
to Christianize Saxony, Charlemagne put to death all who 
killed witches and ate them, while on the other hand, 
soothsayers and sorcerers were made over to the Church 
as slaves. 100 The Bavarian synods of Reisbach, Freising 
and Salzburg (799-800) decreed that all magicians and 
witches as well as the tempestarii (weather-makers) 
should be imprisoned by the archpriest and tortured until 
they confessed, but their life was to be spared. 101 

The penitentials of this period grouped the witches 
into two great classes, the malefici and the tempestarii. 
To the former division belonged those who through their 
devices injured or killed, "maleficio interimere, decipere, 
perdere, occidere, maleficio partum decipere, maleficium 
esse pro amore, pro inlecebroso amore dare, veneficio 
uti, alicujus amoris gratia." 102 For such persons the 
penance lasted for seven years, but if they also sacrificed 
to demons, the penance was for ten years. The second 
group, the tempestarii or immissores tempestatum, whose 
mission was to cause great havoc by storms of rain or 
hail, were also sentenced to seven years penance. 

From what are known as the Eoman Penitentials, we 
gain some idea of the penalties incurred by practitioners 
of the forbidden arts. Thus, "if any one disturbs the 
minds of men by invocation of the devil he shall do pen- 
ance for five years on bread and water." 103 Again, "if 
any one procures the death of another through witchcraft, 



"Hansen, Zauberwahn, Inquisition und Hexenprozess im Mittelalter 
und die Entstehung der grossen Hexen verfolgung. Leipsic, 1900, 66. 

100 M. G. H., op. cit., 23. Divinos et sortilegos ecclesiis et sacerdoti- 
bus dare constituimus. 

101 Hefele-Leclercq, op. cit., Ill, p. II, 1101; 1237; 1255. 

102 Hansen, op. cit., 145. 

103 Schmitz, Die Bussbucher und die Bussdisciplin der Kirche, May- 
ence, 1883. 303. 



THE CHURCH, 1-800 A. D. 37 

he shall have seven years* penance, three of which shall 
be on bread and water." 104 "Any one who is a producer 
of tempests (immissor tempest atum) seven years' pen- 
ance/ n05 "Any one who makes use of ligatures, three 
years ' penance on bread and water. ' ,106 The Arundel Pen- 
itential has an interesting clause concerning the stealing 
of milk, etc., by charms: "any one who steals milk or 
honey from others, by means of incantation or witchcraft, 
shall have three years 'heavy penance. 107 For impotentia 
ex malencio produced by a woman, seven years' 
penance." 108 

The penitentials of the Anglo-Saxon group include 
those of Theodore of Canterbury, of Bede, and of Egbert, 
so-called. These agree in most points regarding the prac- 
tice of witchcraft and the penances to be imposed. Thus, 
"those who immolate to demons in small things, one year 
penance, in greater things, ten years." 109 "If a woman 
works spells by incantation, one year or forty days ' pen- 
ance according to the gravity of the offence." 110 "Tem- 
pest producers shall have seven years' penance." 111 "If 
a woman places her child upon a roof or in an oven to 
cure him, five years' penance." 112 "If any one believes 
that he was carried through the air at night, by witches, 
two years' penance." 113 



10 *Schmitz, 


, op. cit, 307. 


105 Id, 308. 


Penitentiale Valicellanum I. 


106 Id., 312. 




107 Id., 459. 


Penitentiale Arundel. 


108 Id„ 460. 




109 Id., 537. 




110 Ibid. 




m Id., 577. 


Penitentiale Egberti. 


112 Id., 581. 




113 Id., 460. 





CHAPTEE IV 
THE CHUECH, 800-1200 A. D. 

With the passing centuries, the question of witchcraft, 
instead of dying out, came into greater prominence, pos- 
sibly because heresies began to multiply and many of the 
heretical practices were mingled with those of sorcery. 
Hence we find the Church recognizing the evil and dealing 
with it accordingly. 

Previous to the year 800 theological writers had con- 
fined themselves mainly to the diabolical aspect of sor- 
cery, without touching, except in a few cases, the ques- 
tion of the witch's powers, but with the ninth century 
came a change in the views of ecclesiastical writers in 
regard to witchcraft. From this time we see various 
magical effects examined and explained, although as yet 
such acts were not attributed exclusively to the power of 
Satan. 

Agobard, the great archbishop of Lyons (d. 841) wrote 
in 820 that in his diocese, everyone believed in the possi- 
bility of tempest-making by witches, that all classes of 
people believed in a land called Magonia, whence ships 
came in the clouds and carried back the harvests des- 
troyed by hail ; 114 the tempestarii, as such sorcerers were 
called, were paid by the Magonians for creating the storm. 
Agobard held that only God and His servants could pro- 
duce storms, that the minions of Satan had not that 
power; this belief was destined to be later overthrown. 
Agobard concludes his exposition with the statement, 
' i Christians now believe such silly things as formerly no 
heathen would have believed. ' ,115 

Interesting light can be thrown on this question of 
witchcraft in the Carlo vingian period by the works of 
two writers, Eabanus Maurus and Hincmar. Eabanus 



114 P. L. CIV, 147. 
11B Id., 148, 158. 



THE CHURCH, 800-1200 A. D. 39 

Maurus, abbot of Fulda and later archbishop of Mainz, in 
845, wrote a book, De Universo, in which he closely fol- 
lowed the treatment of his predecessor, Isidore of Seville, 
concerning the striga. 116 However, he adopted the view 
accepted by the entire Church at this time that the pagan 
gods were demons and he was urgent in his demands that 
the Mosaic sentence against witches and diviners should 
be carried out in its full rigor. 117 

Hincmar, archbishop of Rheims, in 860 was called 
upon to settle the question, brought up by the divorce 
proceedings between King Lothaire II and Teutberga, 
as to whether women, by witchcraft, could cause illicit 
love between men and women and hatred between mar- 
ried persons. In his exposition, Hincmar shows that he 
was convinced such things could be accomplished, through 
the union of men and devils, and he further cites exam- 
ples in his diocese. He speaks of the evils wrought by 
witches (strigae), "talia sunt etiam genera daemonum 
qui tantum . . . de quibus aliqua nostri tempore acta 
dicere poteramus, nisi ea brevitatis compendio transire- 
mus." 118 He enumerates the means by which the evil may 
be done ; use of bones of the dead, cords, herbs, food, etc. 
The fact that such arts exist is for the bishop a sign of 
the coming of Antichrist. With regard to the power of 
witches, he says "Alii carminibus a strigiis fascinati et 
quasi enerves eff ecti reperti sunt. ' ,119 

The teaching of the Church in the tenth and eleventh 
centuries may be gathered from some of the works of 
Abbot Regino of Prum (d. 915) and Burchard, bishop of 
Worms (d. 1025). These two systematic collections of 
canon law exercised a great influence on the later collec- 
tions and give a fair idea of the ecclesiastical teaching on 
such a difficult point as witchcraft. Abbot Regino 's book, 



"•Schmitz, op. cit, 738. 

m P. L. CX, Raban. Mauri. Operum, p. II, 1095-1110. 

" 9 P. L. CXXV, 716-725. 

" 9 Id., 717. 



\ 



40 THE CHURCH, 800-1200 A. D. 

written in 906 at the suggestion of Archbishop Eatbod 
of Trier, contains advice for the visitation of a diocese ; it 
consists in great part of a collection of the ancient canons 
of different synods and papal decrees. With various 
points relating to ecclesiastical discipline the abbot's 
ideas regarding the witch-belief are also found. He 
speaks of the evils caused by witches, such as blighting 
the crops, producing storms, causing love and hatred, 
etc., and evidently believes in the reality of sorcery, for 
the practice of which he prescribes seven years penance. 
Regino 's book is of more interest to us, because it is the 
oldest authentic document concerning the nocturnal 
flights of women, which later became one of the import- 
ant admissions in witch-confessions. This document is 
embodied in his work as the famous "canon episcopi" 
erroneously attributed to the council of Ancyra, 314. It 
contains an exhortation to bishops which runs partly as 
follows : i l The bishops and their assistants must work 
with all their might to eradicate from their dioceses the 
corrupting arts of soothsaying and sorcery invented by 
the devil ; whenever they find a man or woman given up to 
this vice, they must turn such persons out of the diocese." 
After bringing forward proofs to show how much of the 
old heathen belief in magic had still been retained among 
the people who had become Christian, the canon continues : 
' ' Even now, there are certain wicked women who, misled 
by the wiles and tricks of the devil, believe and declare 
that in the nocturnal hours, with Diana, the goddess of the 
heathen, or with Herodias and in company with innumer- 
able other women, riding on certain animals, they can, in 
the midnight stillness traverse many lands and they say 
they must obey the orders of their queen in everything. 
And these women who have thus fallen away from the 
faith have not only gone to ruin themselves, but they have 
dragged many others with them into the destruction of un- 
belief .... Therefore the priests in the churches en- 



THE CHURCH, 800-1200 A. D. 41 

trusted to them, must preach to the people of God with all 
earnestness and teach them that all these things are noth- 
ing, and are not from the Spirit of God, but from the 
wicked spirit, who puts false ideas into the minds and 
hearts of believers. Satan, who can take on the appear- 
ance of an angel of light, directly he has taken captive the 
mind of some woman and subjugated her by means of her 
unbelief, changes into all sorts of forms, conjures up in 
dreams before the soul he holds in his power, now joyful 
scenes, now sad ones, now known, now unknown persons ; 
and the victim believes that all these visions are not merely 
imaginary, but real and actual. . . . Therefore it must 
be proclaimed to all people that anyone who believes such 
things has lost the true faith; and whoever has lost the 
true faith belongs not to God, but to the devil. By the 
Lord it stands written that all things were made by Him ; 
whoever, therefore, believes that any creature can be 
changed into a better or worse form, or into any other 
form, except by the Creator Himself, that person is with- 
out doubt an unbeliever and worse than a heathen. ' ,120 

From the preceeding quotations it will be seen that at 
this time, the Church treated the nightly flights of women 
as an illusion, but held that a woman could yield to the 
devil and voluntarily place herself in his service, thus 
becoming an apostate and worthy of punishment. 121 

About a hundred years later, Burchard of Worms (d. 
1025) wrote his Collect arium Canonum or Decretum in 
twenty books, a compilation of ecclesiastical law and 
moral theology drawn from the works of his predecessors, 
from the writings of the Fathers, the penitentials, decrees 
of councils and popes, and from the Scriptures. Two por- 
tions of this great work are of special interest in connec- 



120 P. L. CXXXII, 352; Soldan-Heppe, Geschichte der Hexen- 
prozesse, I, 130. 

321 Si aliqua est, quae se dicat cum daemonum turba in similitudine 
mulierum transformata atris noctibus equitare super quasdam bestias 
et in eorum consortio adnumeratam esse, haec talis omnimodis ex par- 
ochia eiiciatur. 



42 THE CHURCH, 800-1200 A. D. 

tion with our subject: Book X, Be incantatoribus et 
auguribus, and Book XIX, the Corrector or Medicus, a 
penitential. These two books describe in some detail the 
witch-superstition still developing among the people of 
Germany and connected with the old heathen ideas. Book 
X embodies the work of Eegino, to which are added cita- 
tions from St. Augustine and Eabanus Maurus; in one 
point Burchard disagrees with Eegino, namely, in regard 
to the existence of the tempestarii. Burchard holds that 
witches cannot influence storms, and assigns a penalty for 
those who hold such a belief. With regard to other deeds 
of the witches, such as stealing a neighbor's possessions 
by means of magic formulae, killing domestic animals by 
a look, blighting crops, etc., Burchard is no wiser than 
others of his time, but he says positively that no sorcerer 
can influence the mind of man by magic arts, change love 
into hatred or vice versa, nor transform men into animals. 
This tenth book was embodied in the works of Ivo and 
Gratian and became part of the later canonical literature ; 
but the nineteenth book, in which the night-flights of 
women were mentioned and belief in them severely repre- 
hended, never became part of ecclesiastical law. There- 
fore, it was possible when the question of night-flying be- 
came an important one in the fourteenth and fifteenth 
centuries, for the theologians to meet all objections taken 
from the Canon Episcopi with the explanation that the 
witches of their time no longer flew in company with 
Diana or Herodias but were a new class who flew with the 
help of demons, and that they did not and could not come 
under the penalty imposed by the Canon Episcopi, because 
they had not existed when the Canon was composed. 

In the early part of the twelfth century, Ivo of Char- 
tres (d. 1115) incorporated most of Burchard's tenth 
book in his own work, the Panormia (Book VIII), and in 
his Decretal (Book XI). 122 In these pages are found ref- 

m P. L. CLXI, Panormia, lib. VIII; Decreti, p. XI. 



THE CHURCH, 800-1200 A. D. 43 

erences to the metamorphosis of men into animals, the 
flight of women in company with Diana or Herodias, etc., 
which Ivo holds to be figments of the imagination. Never- 
theless, he believes that some persons, with the aid of the 
devil, can create storms and disturb the minds of men, 
bnt this is only done with God's permission. 123 Of more 
importance for us is the fact that Ivo is the first writer to 
pay attention to the influence of sorcery or witchcraft 
upon the consummation of marriage, and to speak of the 
"impotentia ex maleficio," which constituted an old tenet 
of the witch-belief. It was this touching of one of the 
Sacraments which probably aroused the attention of 
Church authorities and called forth so much active legis- 
lation, otherwise it is possible that the canonists and theo- 
logians might have had much less to say on the subject. 
When, however, the marriage bond, always so sacredly 
protected by the Church, was thus attacked and so many 
applications for divorce ' ' causa impotentiae ex maleficio ' ' 
were made, there was nothing for the Church to do but to 
face the issue and define her position. Ivo, voicing the 
teaching of the Church says that when it can be proved 
that the impotentia is the result of witchcraft or sorcery, 
the man and woman may separate and remarry. 124 This 
doctrine was included in the Canon Law and the teaching 
persisted for several centuries as the Church upheld be- 
lief in the reality of magic and this question of divorce for 
impotentia ex maleficio became one of frequent occur- 
rence. This question was treated in the same way by the 
great theologians of later times, among whom may be 
mentioned Peter Lombard, 125 jWilliam of Paris, 126 Albertus 
Magnus, 127 St. Thomas Aquinas, 128 Pope Innocent V, 129 

m P. L. CLXI, lib. VIII. 

124 P. L. CLXI, Panor. lib. VI, cap. 117. "Si per sortiarias atque male- 
ficias occulto, sed numquam injusto Dei judicio permittente et diabolo 
praeparante, concubitus non sequitur . . . separari valebant." 

128 Petri Lombardi, Sentent, lib. IV, dist. 34. 

126 Guilielmi Alverni, Opera Omnia, lib. II, 970, 1106. 

m Alberti Magni, Compendium theologicae veritatis Comment. IV 
Sent. Dist. XXXIV, art. 9. 

128 Thomae Aquinatis, Comment. IV, dist. XXIV, ques. 1. 

129 Innocentii V pont. max. ex ordine Praedicatorum assumpti, in IV 
Libros Sententiarum commentaria, lib. IV, dist. XXIV, art. 4. 



44 THE CHURCH, 800-1200 A. D. 

John Duns Scotus, 130 Peter of Aquila, 131 John Trithe- 
niius, 132 and Bartholomew Spina. 133 These writers agree 
that divorce should be allowed in such cases only if the 
persons involved have humbled themselves before God, 
have fasted, prayed and been exorcised. 

Besides the above-mentioned books there is the Decree 
of Gratian, a vast collection of canonical laws, which was 
completed in Bologna about 1140 and which marks the 
beginning of the new law development in the Church. 
This decree, the first part of which is embodied in the 
Corpus Juris Canonici, possesses great authority, and 
through its adoption by the canonical school is highly es- 
teemed as a source of the Church's law. Gratian collects 
the various decrees on magic practices in Causa XXVI, 
quaestiones 1-6, in which he speaks of divination, incanta- 
tion, soothsaying, witchcraft, for all of which practices 
excommunication is the penalty. "Si quis ariolos, arus- 
pices, vel incantatores obseruauerit . . . anathema 
sit." 134 "Sortilegos velut Christi inimicos, districta ulti- 
one corrigere. ' m5 ■ ' Excommunicetur clericus, monachus, 
laicus divinationes, vel augurias vel sortes secutus. ' ,136 

Abelard (d. 1142) who exercised such a great influence 
on the philosophers and theologians of the thirteenth 
century, says nothing directly concerning magic prac- 
tices, but he declares that the devil has vast knowledge 
and that God permits him to tempt men, suggesting to 
them many illusions; he also says that the sorcerers of 
Egypt in the time of Moses worked many wonders. 137 

130 Johannis Duns Scotus, Quaestiones in Petri Lombardi Libros Sent, 
lib. IV, dist. 34. 

131 Petrus de Aquila, Super quatuor libros magistri Sententiarum, 
lib. IV, dist. 34. 

132 Hansen, Quellen, op. cit, 294. 

133 Id.,329. 

134 Gratian, Decretum Gratiani emendatum et notationibus illus- 
tratum. Rome, 1582, II, C. XXVI, qu. 5, c. 1. 

135 Id„ c. 8. 

138 Id., c. 2. 

137 P. L. CLXXVIII, Petri Abelardi, P. II, Sermones, cap. IV, 
647. 



THE CHURCH, 800-1200 A. D. 45 

Such a distinguished scholar as John of Salisbury (d. 
1180), the most widely read student in classical literature 
produced by the Middle Ages, and a pupil of Abelard, 
openly manifested the belief in the reality of witchcraft, 
which he held in union with the entire Christian world. 
In his great work, the Polycraticus, composed in the years 
1156-1159, he treats the subjects of dream-life and the 
night-flights of women with a truly critical spirit, but he 
declares there is no doubt about the reality of witchcraft, 
and says that he himself in his youth had been conse- 
crated with the necessary chrism by a conjuring priest. 
The nialeficiuni, according to him, as also to St. Augustine 
and Isidore was carried out by a "pestifera familiaritas 
daemonum et hominum. ' n38 With regard to the possibility 
of weather-making, he follows the opinions of his prede- 
cessors "Magi qui Domino permittente elementa concu- 
tiunt, ventura, plerumque pronunciant, turbant mentes 
hominum. ' ' 

The same attitude is shown by another scholar of the 
time, Peter of Blois (d. 1180), who declares against the 
interpretation of dreams, yet says that certain women, by 
the suggestion of the devil, form terrene and material 
images to afflict their enemies or inflame their loved 
ones. 139 

The Magister Sententiarum, Peter Lombard (d. be- 
tween 1160-64), mentions the subject in the Sentences. 
In Book II he says that God allows the devil to make use 
of magic arts in order to warn the faithful and try the 
good, also that God gives power to the devil to tempt 
men. 140 

In this period we find no papal decrees bearing on the 
subject, but several popes in letters to bishops or abbots 
mentioned the practice of sorcery and witchcraft and de- 
clared the lawful punishment for such evils. Thus Leo IV 



138 P. L. CXCIX, Polycraticus, lib. II, cap. XXVII. 

138 P. L. CCVII, 190. 

140 Petri Lombardi, Sentent. Lib. II, dist. 6, 7. 



46 THE CHURCH, 800-1200 A. D. 

in 849 wrote to the bishops of Britain that witches and 
diviners should be punished with anathema, 141 and in 890 
Stephen V threatened with deprivation of the Holy Sac- 
rament, all those who sought the aid of the devil and also 
advised his councillors to put in practice the words of God 
to Moses: " Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." 142 Leo VII 
between 937 and 939 wrote to the bishops of Germany 
concerning enchanters and witches that they should be 
punished, yet not exterminated according to the Mosaic 
law, but rather that they should be urged to give up their 
evil practices and to come back to the Church. 143 The 
great Gregory VII wrote to Harold of Denmark in 1080 
that he must no longer tolerate among his people the grue- 
some superstition according to which Christian priests or 
wicked women were held answerable for bad weather, 
storms, unfruitful years or outbreaks of plagues. 144 

Church synods took up the question of witchcraft and 
legislated concerning it ; from a consideration of the var- 
ious places in which these councils were held we see how 
widespread the practice was. The ninth century opened 
with an Irish synod (800) which declared that any Chris- 
tian who believed in the existence of witches or who led 
others to believe in them should be anathema. 145 At 
Worms (829) the Frankish bishops declared that many 
evil deeds were being committed, among them sorcery, 
soothsaying, poisoning, and witchcraft, and that persons 
practising such should be treated without mercy. 146 At 
the synod of Pavia (850) presided over by Archbishop 
Angilbert of Milan the Italian bishops asserted that 
magic arts were on the increase in Italy and the synod 
decreed that women who practised witchcraft should suf- 
fer the most severe penalty and only upon their death- 

141 P. L. CXV, 668; Gratian, op. cit., C. XXVI, qu. 5, c. 7. 
142 Langen, Geschichte der Romischen Kirche, III, 293. 
148 Mansi, op. cit., XVIII, 378. 

144 Jaffe, Regesta Pontificum Romanorum. Berlin, 1851. II, 413. 
145 Haddan and Stubbs, Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents relat- 
ing to Great Britain and Ireland. Oxford, 1869-78. II, 329. 
14a Mansi, op. cit., XIV, 529. 



THE CHURCH, 800-1200 A. D. 47 

beds, after a searching examination, should they be re- 
ceived again into the communion of the Church. 147 In 
the same year a synod at Eome declared that women who 
bewitched others to love or hate, or procured their death, 
should be severely punished. 148 Archbishop Hincmar of 
Eheims, in 859, summoned a council at Metz, which decreed 
death to all practitioners of the witch's art, "impios de 
terra perdere . . . veneficos, sacrilegos non sinere 
vivere. ,m9 Bishop Herard of Tours (855) declared that 
sorcerers, tempestarii and enchanters should do public 
penance. 150 In 895 the bishops at the synod of Tribur sum- 
moned by King Arnulf , decreed that any man or woman 
who worked harm through poison, herbs or magic should 
be punished as a murderer with double fines. 151 A council 
in southern Italy, of uncertain time and place, declared 
that the arts of magic and soothsaying should be 
annihilated. 152 

England, too, had its share in the work. In 1009 a 
council held at Enham under the patronage of King 
Ethelred declared that enchanters, magicians and witches 
should be expelled from the kingdom. 153 

In Spain the council of Coyaca (1050) decreed excom- 
munication for all those who practised witchcraft or 
magic. 154 In 1090 a council in Bohemia warned the faith- 
ful not to have recourse to magicians in times of distress 
or sickness, but it only prescribed confession and repen- 
tance with abstinence from a repetition of the offense. In 
1092 the council of Szaboles in Hungary allowed a bishop 
to punish witches as he thought fit — "meretrices et 



147 Hefele-Leclercq, op. cit, Tom IV, p. I, 186. 

148 Id., 189. 

" 8 Id., 215. 

180 P. L. CXXI, 764, "de maleficis, incantatoribus, divinis . . . tempes- 
tariis et de mulieribus veneficis et quae diversa fingunt portenta ut 
prohibeantur et publica poenitentia multentur." 

151 Hefele-Leclercq, op. cit.JV, p. I, 695. 

162 Mansi, op. cit., 18a, 433. 

153 Hefele-Leclercq, op. cit., IV, p. II, 914. 

m Id., 1064. 



48 THE CHURCH, 800-1200 A. D. 

strigae, secundum quod episcopo visum fuerit, tali modo 
dijudicentur. ' ' 155 

Bishop Otto of Bamberg in 1124 summoned a council 
in Pomerania, in which he forbade Christians to have re- 
course to witchcraft or to question soothsayers. 156 

The next year the council of London declared excom- 
municate those who had recourse to witches and sorcerers, 
"Sortilegos, ariolos et auguria quaeque sectantes, eisque 
consentientes, excommunicari praecipimus, perpetuaque 
notamus inf amia. ' ,157 The council of Eouen (1190) also 
decreed excommunicate all poisoners and witches. 158 

During these centuries, the legislation of the Church, 
to judge from the penalties imposed, was extremely mild, 
though the penitentials vary somewhat in the length of 
time for which the sorcerer or practitioner of witchcraft 
was compelled to do penance. The first important peni- 
tential of the time is that of Halitgar, bishop of Cambrai, 
written between 817 and 831. Much of it is based on the 
older penitentials and the fourth book only is of value to 
us. In the twenty-fifth canon we read that those who seek 
diviners or others using magic arts must do penance for 
fifty days. 159 Again, " those making use of enchantments 
shall be separated from the Church. ' n60 ' ' Neither shall 
Christians observe the traditions of the Gentiles, nor 
make use of incantations. ' ' 161 

The Corrector of Burchard, to which reference has 
been made, decrees that at confession every penitent 
should be asked the following questions : Have you be- 
lieved that some people can raise storms or change the 
minds and hearts of men? Have you believed that there 
are women, who by their magic power can turn love into 
hatred, hatred into love, and by their witchcraft steal 

165 Mansi, op. cit, XX, 777. 

158 M. G. H. Leg. VI, 263. 

157 Mansi., op. cit, XXI, 332. 

m Hefele, Konziliengeschichte, V, 665; Mansi, XXI, 581. 

1B9 Sclimitz, op. cit., V, 727. 

M0 Ibid. 

lfll Ibid. 



THE CHURCH, 800-1200 A. D. 49 

and injure the possessions of others ? Have yon believed 
that certain women ride forth at night, in company with 
devils, whom they are obliged to serve? Have yon be- 
lieved what certain women are accustomed to believe, 
that you, with devils, in the silence of the night, 
have been raised into the clouds and have fought with 
others and that you have wounded others and have been 
wounded by them ? ' ' If the penitent answered these ques- 
tions in the affirmative, a suitable penance of one year 
was imposed upon him. 162 In Book X there is also 
an enumeration of special practices with the penal- 
ties attached. "Any one who introduces sorcerers into 
his house, five years ' penance/' "Enchanters and sor- 
cerers must be sought out as enemies of Christ and chas- 
tised severely. If a bishop, priest or deacon consults 
sorcerers, he must be degraded and imprisoned in a mon- 
astery to do perpetual penance. Enchanters, witches, 
tempest-makers, or those who invoke demons to disturb 
men's minds, must be fully punished. Whoever cele- 
brates nocturnal sacrifices to demons, or invokes them, 
shall be severely punished. A woman who makes use of 
diabolical incantations must do penance for a year or for 
three times forty days. Bishops should instruct the peo- 
ple regarding the pernicious arts of the devil and if they 
find men or women given up to such, they must put them 
out of the parish, for they are led captive by the devil. 
If any woman says she can change love to hate, or that 
she goes travelling with other women at night, let her be 
put out of the parish." 163 

The position of the Church at the end of the twelfth 
century may be briefly summed up as follows: In the 
earlier centuries it was against the mere belief in witch- 
craft that the Church fulminated her decrees ; the inter- 
rogatories already quoted show with sufficient clearness 

162 P. L. CXL, 950-1014. Credidisti quod multae mulieres retro Sata- 
nam conversae credunt, ut, januis clausis, exire posse et terrarum 
spatia pertransire valere, etc. 

ia3 Ibid. 



50 THE CHURCH, 800-1200 A. D. 

that her position toward the question was one of in- 
credulity; she forbade her children to believe in the possi- 
bility or reality of such phenomena. After the ninth cen- 
tury, however, a gradual change seemed to pervade her 
pronouncements — she seemed to accept the reality of 
witchcraft and issued her prohibitions against its prac- 
tice by the faithful. She admitted that persons under the 
influence of the devil, were able to do much harm; she 
formulated certain laws regarding marriage and divorce, 
but the penalties prescribed for practitioners of the magic 
art, were, on the whole, extremely light, and in general it 
may be said that the Church seemed unable to cope with 
the growing superstition. 



CHAPTER V 

THE CHURCH, 1200-1700 
Theological Wkiteks 

With the change in the idea and attributes of a witch 
that came in the thirteenth century, a mass of popular 
literature sprang up, by which the minds of many people 
were turned towards the demoniacal and for numbers of 
men and women, Satan became, their whole lives through, 
the dominant idea. This was particularly true of the 
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when the doctrines of 
Luther had permeated all classes of society and were 
producing their terrible results. The demoralization re- 
sulting everywhere from the religious, social, and political 
movements and struggles, was especially favorable to the 
development of the witch-superstition and procured for it 
an extension undreamed of before. 

There were many ecclesiastical writers of this time 
who treated the most important points of the witchcraft 
question. The first, in point of time was Caesarius of 
Heisterbach who wrote his Dialogus Miraculorum in 1225. 
This work contains an exposition of many well-known 
practices; what forms the devil takes, how all sickness 
and disasters are produced by the influence of the devil 
with the permission of God ; how devils take the form of 
women and kill children with a look, etc. 164 

Much more important was the work, De Universo 
of William of Auvergne, the well-known Paris bishop (d. 
1249) which greatly influenced the development of theo- 
logical studies in Paris. He realized that philosophy had 
not fully settled the question of witchcraft, neither had it 
made clear the nature of the evil demons nor their wicked- 
ness. "De eo vero si demones a foris obsidere possunt, 

164 Caesarius of Heisterbach. Cologne, 1475. Dialogus XI, 63; III, 
6, 7, 8. 

51 



52 THE CHURCH, 1200-1700 A. D. 

in quanta longitudine hoc possint, philosophia nondum 
determinavit, quia neque naturam malignorum spiritum 
neque malitiam ad liquidam declaravit. ' ,165 According to 
William of Paris, demons could raise storms, wreck ships, 
burn houses and cities, while persons with their help, 
could perform all sorts of evil deeds. The bishop also 
refers to many of the well-known practices of witches, 
such as the Sabbats, etc., but says they no longer existed 
in his time, yet he holds it for a truth that demons, with 
the permission of Grod, kill children in order to punish 
the parents. The difference between his view of the 
night-rides and the popular belief, as he shows in his 
writing, is that he does not believe the witches to be 
really women, but demons who delude men by many ex- 
pedients. Stephen of Bourbon in 1261 held the same 
opinion, namely, that the devils assumed the appearance 
of women and killed children upon the nightly journeys. 

The versatile Eoger Bacon (d. 1294) was in advance 
of his time in his treatment of nature and her laws, as is 
shown in his letter Be Nullitate magiae, in which he 
says that magic is opposed to philosophy; that charms 
and enchantments are unworthy of the wise; that magic 
may sometimes be used to good effect in medicine but that 
books of magic should be eschewed. 166 

The great Dominican, the Doctor Universalis, Alber- 
tus Magnus (d. 1289) treats especially three questions: 
the possibility of enchantment (bewitchment) ; the removal 
of these enchantments by other magic arts and the effects 
of witchcraft. 167 The prudent scholastic inclines gener- 
ally to the opinion that magic frequently rests upon de- 
ception, that the people are led entirely by their imperfect 
mental culture into an association of magic deeds with 
later occurrences. Yet he has no doubt that the art of be- 



165 Guilielmi Alverni, Opera Omnia. Paris, 1674. 1, II, 983. 

166 Epistola Fratis Rogeri Baconis de secretis operibus artis et 
naturae, et de nullitate magiae. London, 1859. 

187 Alberti Magni, Compendium theologicae veritatis. Paris, 1890. 
1. II, c. 27. 



THE CHURCH, 1200-1700 A. D. 53 

witchment exists; the Church Fathers have held that 
opinion and the Church has promulgated laws concerning 
it. "Nulli dubium esse debet, multos esse maleficiatos vi 
et potestate daemonum, quia hoc sancti patres dicunt, et 
ecclesia super hoc iura promulgavit, et hoc patet etiam 
omnibus illis, qui de negromantia et de factis imaginum 
aliquid noverunt. ' n68 According to Albertus, sorcerers 
are able to perform their wonders, only on account of a 
pact with the devil. 169 "Magi miracula faciunt per pri- 
vatos contractus initia foederis cum daemonibus. ' ' Again, 
"Si enim per invocationes, coniurationes, sacrificia fiunt, 
tunc aperte pactum initur cum daemone, et tunc est apos- 
tasia oris ibi. Si autem non fit nisi opere simplici, tunc 
est apostasia operis, quia illud opus expectatur a dae- 
mone, et expectare aliquid a daemone . . . est fidei con- 
tumelia, et ideo apostasia. ' mo Albertus did not believe in 
the reality of witch-rides, but says that the women who de- 
clare they journey at night with Herodias, are simply de- 
luded by the devil. 171 

The great pupil of Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aqui- 
nas (d. 1274) in his Commentary on the Sentences of 
Lombard, declares that some persons said, there was no 
witchcraft except in the ideas of men, who imputed to 
witches, natural effects of which the causes were hidden. 
This is contrary to the teachings of the Church, which 
says that demons have power over the bodies and minds 
of men, when they are permitted by God, and so through 
this power, witches are able to do wonders. In the 
Summa, the author says that magicians work miracles 
(this word is not used in the absolute sense) through the 
demons, by means of a compact, tacit or expressed with 
them. 172 In another place he declares that when a soul is 



168 Alb. Mag., De somno et vigilia II, c. 5. 
169 Alb. Mag. Compend., 1, II, Dist. VII, c. 10. 
"°Id., c. 12. 
m Id., c. 31. 

m Thomae Aquinatis, Summa Theologica, I, qu. 110, art. 4; Ilda, 
Ildae, qu. 92-96. 



54 THE CHURCH, 1200-1700 A. D. 

vehemently moved to wickedness, as occnrs in little old 
women, the countenance becomes venomous and hnrtful 
to children, (this is the power of fascination frequently 
attributed to witches). It is also possible that by Grod's 
permission, or in accordance with some secret agreement 
the spiteful demons cooperate in this, as the witches may 
have a compact with them. 173 

Another Dominican, also a student and professor 
at Paris, Peter of Tarantaise, who in 1276 became Pope 
with the name Innocent V has left a Commentary on the 
Sentences. According to him it is false to say there is no 
reality in witchcraft. He also states that it is not lawful 
to make use of magic to rid oneself of some evil already 
produced by that power. 174 A contemporary of his, the 
learned Franciscan, Bonaventure (d. 1274) held the same 
views regarding the reality of witchcraft and the awful 
power of the devil over human beings. 175 These Commen- 
taries of Aquinas, Peter of Tarantaise, and Bonaventure 
formed the real manual for theological instruction in the 
University of Paris and were referred to in all cases of 
doubt. 

In the next century we find John Duns Scotus (d. 
1308) taking up the same questions in his Commentary. 
His critical views regarding the Church's teaching on 
some points did not hinder him from handling the ques- 
tion of the magic arts in the traditional theological man- 
ner. He declares that without doubt, persons who had 
made a compact with the wicked spirits could practise 
witchcraft. 176 Scotus is of the opinion that the wicked 
spirits keep this bargain and aid man, not because of the 
agreement, but only because they wish to be honored and 
to say they will serve no one in the future, if the agree- 

173 0p. cit., I, qu. 117, art. 3. 

:T *Innocentii V pont. max. ex ordine Praedicatorum assumpti, In 
IV Libros Sententiorum commentaria. lib IV, Dist. XXIV, art. 4. 

""Bonaventurae, Opera Omnia. Florence, 1885. II, dist. 7, pars. II, 
cap. 6; IV, dist. 34, art. II, quest. 2. 

"'Joannes Duns Scoti, Quaestiones in Petri Lombardi Libros Sent, 
lib. IV, dist. 34. 



THE CHURCH, 1200-1700 A. D. 55 

ment is broken. He also holds the view that the witch- 
craft works only so long ^s some concrete means, for 
instance, a bent needle or something similar, exists; if 
that is destroyed the devil is no longer bonnd by his com- 
pact. 177 This means should be sought for, if a person is 
thought to be bewitched, and destroyed ; this is to be done 
especially if the witchcraft has not been annihilated by 
prayer and the sacramentals of the Church. Eichard of 
Middleton (d. 1308) holds the same views. Following the 
Dominican teaching, William Durandus of St. Porciano 
(d. 1332) wrote his Commentary on Lombard. He adopts, 
with regard to faith and knowledge, a view contrary to 
that of St. Thomas Aquinas, but explains the questions 
raised by witchcraft in the customary way, according to 
the decretals. 178 Peter of Palude (d. 1342) also treated 
the pertinent question; he declares that when women 
practise witchcraft with such means as beans or the liver 
of a cock, it is not the virtue of these things that produces 
the evil results, but the hidden powers of the devil who 
deludes the witch by means of these corporal things. 179 

About the middle of the fourteenth century, the Fran- 
ciscan Peter of Aquila (d. 1361), inquisitor of Florence 
taught as did Duns Scotus, and at the same time showed 
that the evil practice of witchcraft was prevalent in Italy 
as well as in France, and England/ 80 In Germany, 
Thomas of Strasburg, General of the Augustinians, fol- 
lowed the teaching of Aquinas. The contention of some 
persons that witchcraft was not a reality and that de- 
mons had no real existence, he dispatched quickly with 
the same proofs that his great predecessor had given. He 
also teaches that the exorcism of the Church is not always 
effective * ' deo permittente sepe visum est, quod exorcismi 



177 0p. cit., 1, II, dist. 7. 

178 D. Durandi a Sancto Porciano, in Petri Lombardi Sententias 
Theologicas Commentariorum, Libri 1111, Venice 1568. lib. 15, dist. 
XXXIV, quest, prima. 

"'Hansen, op. cit., 167. 

,80 Petrus de Aquila, dictus Scotellus, Super quatuor libros magistri 
Sententiarum, lib. IV, dist. 34. 



56 THE CHURCH, 1200-1700 A. D. 

et coniurationes ecclesiae non valent semper ad tollendum 
corporales molestias illatas hominibus ab ipsis demoni- 
bus, ' ,181 yet to wish to destroy the evil by means of magic 
was mortal sin. 

John Gerson (d. 1429), Chancellor of the University 
of Paris, in a tract De erroribus circa Art em Magicam 
states clearly the teaching of his times. He declares that 
to call in question the existence and activity of demons is 
erroneous and contrary to Sacred Scripture, as well as 
destructive to human and political society. "They are to 
be corrected who assert that theologians attribute too 
much power to demons. Yet it is true that some attribute 
to the evil spirits, phenomena produced by natural causes 
for there are many marvels in nature. ' ,182 Again he 
says that the attempt to produce effects which cannot be 
reasonably expected from God or from natural causes, 
should be considered as superstition and suspect of a pact 
with the devil. 183 In answer to the question why God per- 
mits the devil to have such power over human beings, he 
gives four reasons : as a manifestation of His glory ; or 
for the damnation of the obstinate ; or the punishment of 
sinners ; or to try the faithful. 184 Gerson asserts that the 
devil is worshiped by the prayers, sacrifices, and incense 
used in magic rites ; these acts are the more sacrilegious, 
the holier the thing abused. Finally he says that witch- 
craft must not be employed to drive out witchcraft for 
this is a grave sin against faith. 185 

Gerson includes in his tract a decision of the theologi- 
cal faculty of the University of Paris. In 1398 this fac- 
ulty held a general congregation in the Church of St. 
Mathurin and adopted a series of twenty-eight articles, 



181 Thomas de Argentina, Scripta super quattuor libros Sententi- 
arum, II, 1; IV, dist. 6. 

182 Joannis Gersonii, Opera Omnia, Antwerp, 1706. Tom. I Pars. 
II, 201. 

183 Id., 212. 

184 Id., 213. 

185 Id., 213. 



THE CHURCH, 1200-1700 A. D. 57 

which became a standard for demonologists and were 
regarded as an unanswerable argument against sceptics 
who questioned the reality of the wickedness of magic. 
The University declared that there was an implied pact 
with Satan in every superstitious observance; it con- 
demned as erroneous the assertions that it was permis- 
sible by magic arts and witchcraft to invoke the aid of 
demons, to seek their friendship or to enter into compacts 
with them, to imprison them in stones, rings, mirrors, and 
images, to use sorcery to bring about good ends or for the 
cure of sorcery, that God could be induced by magic arts 
to compel demons to obey invocations, that the celebration 
of masses and other good work used in some forms of 
sorcery was permissible. On the one hand the University 
denied that images of lead, gold or wax when baptized 
and consecrated on certain days, possessed the powers 
ascribed to them in books of magic, on the other hand it 
was emphatic in remarking on the incredulity of those 
who denied that sorcery, incantations and the invocation 
of demons, possessed the powers claimed for them by 
sorcerers. 186 

The so-called last scholastic, the German Gabriel Biel 
(d. 1484) a theological teacher in Tubingen, in his Com- 
mentary on the Sentences asserts that a witch through an 
express pact with the devil, can work out her evil designs. 
"Potest homini imaginationem turbare," etc. According 
to him it is false to say that there is no reality in witch- 
craft; "Falsa est opinio dicentium, maleficium nihil esse 
in rei veritate, sed solum in talium hominum existima- 
tione, qui effectus quorum cause sunt occulte nonnun- 
quam solent maleficiis demonum imputare. ' mr 

The year 1486 saw the completion of a book, 
which, though it acquired no legislative force in the 
Church, became the source of untold mischief. This 



"Gersonii, op. cit, 218, 219. 
'Hansen, Zauberwahn, 164. 



58 THE CHURCH, 1200-1700 A. D. 

was the famous Malleus Maleficarum, 188 the work of two 
inquisitors, Henry Institor and James Sprenger, who 
published the book in order to break the resistance op- 
posed to their official actions by some pastors ; these lat- 
ter had declared in their sermons that there were no 
witches with power to harm human beings. The Malleus 
Maleficarum is in three parts, the first two of which deal 
with the reality of witchcraft on the evidence of the Bible 
and of canon and civil law, explain its nature and the 
horrors connected with it, and detail the remedies to be 
used by the Church against it; the third part gives in- 
structions to ecclesiastical and secular judges as to the 
manner in which witch-trials should be conducted and 
what sentence should be pronounced on offenders. The 
authors declare that witches must be more severely pun- 
ished than heretics, because they, too, are apostates and 
because they not only deny the faith from fear of men, but 
over and above this, they pay homage to the devil and 
give themselves up to him body and soul. The enormity 
of their sin is greater than that of the wicked angels ; the 
severity of their punishment must correspond to the mag- 
nitude of their offense. The Malleus differs from the 
earlier witch-literature in three important points, first, 
the Malleus makes the maleficium or the injury and not 
the heretical incident of the Sabbat, the central point; 
second, it has a distinct aversion for the female sex; 
third, it insists on the maleficent side of witchcraft and 
is inclined to delegate witch-trials to the secular law- 
courts. After the religious upheaval of the sixteenth 
century this book became an undisputed authority for 
Protestant as well as Catholic districts. 

Two years after the publication of the Malleus, Ulrich 
Molitor, doctor of Eoman and Canon law, at the demand 
of Archduke Sigismund of the Tyrol, published a memo- 

188 The use of the word Maleficarum instead of Maleficorum is sig- 
nificant as showing the limiting of the evil power to the female sex. 
The Malleus Maleficarum, written in 1486, was published in 1487; 
the earliest editions hear no place of publication. 



THE CHURCH, 1200-1700 A. D. 59 

randum on witchcraft, Be laniis et phitonicis (sic) mulie- 
ribus, teutonics unholden vel hexen which contains many 
sensible opinions. He says that no weight should be at- 
tached to statements made under torture, for through 
pain and fear anyone might be made to confess all sorts 
of things he had never done. According to Molitor, hu- 
man beings cannot assume other shapes and fly to distant 
places, this is pure imagination, neither can witches 
travel many miles at night, it is their lively imaginations, 
which are filled with images conjured up by the devil, and 
thus they deceive themselves into thinking that what was 
only fancy, happened in reality. On the other hand, Mol- 
itor believes in the existence of witches and in the possi- 
bility of a pact between them and the devil, which action 
ought to be severely punished. Although such accursed 
women can do nothing of themselves, yet because they 
have fallen away from a most generous God and dedi- 
cated themselves to the devil, they should, according to 
civil and divine law, be put to death. " Tales sceleratae 
mulieres, que a deo largissimo apostatarunt et dyabolo 
sese dedicarent morte plecti debent. ' ,189 

Thomas Cajetanus, Dominican General, in 1500 wrote 
a tract Be nialeficiis, in which he discusses the question 
whether it is lawful to make use of magic or witchcraft to 
counteract magic, and answers in the negative. 190 

Strange contradictions on the subject of witchcraft are 
found in the writings of the celebrated Strasburg 
preacher and theological teacher, Geiler von Kaisersberg, 
who wrote his Emeis, a collection of sermons in 1508. The 
following extract is taken from Hansen, "You ask me 
what I have to say concerning women who travel at night 
and assemble together? You ask if they travel to Dame 
Venusberg and if the witches really go back and forth, or 



189 Hansen, Quellen und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte des Hex- 
enwahns und der Hexenverfolgung im Mittelalter, Bonn, 1901, 244 
seqq. 

""Hansen, op. cit, 254, 255. 



60 THE CHURCH, 1200-1700 A. D. 

whether they are only dreaming, or whether they are 
ghosts and what I think about it all? I answer you as 
follows. To the first question I say they travel here and 
there and yet remain in one place, that is, they imagine 
they are travelling, for the devil can create fancies in 
their brain, so that they think they are travelling and 
that they are with other women and are dancing and 
banqueting together. And Satan can do this best with 
those who are pledged to him." (Here Geiler gives an 
example of a woman who sought to convince a preacher 
that she travelled about at night. She anointed herself 
with an unguent, uttered a spell and fell asleep, dreaming 
she was travelling, though she never moved from her 
place beside the preacher. When she awoke, she declared 
she had travelled to the Sabbat. Again, the author as- 
sumes the reality of witch-rides, "If a witch sits on a 
pitchfork which she has rubbed with salve and speaks 
the prescribed words, she can ride about wherever she 
will. It is not any virtue in the fork or in the salve that 
does it, therefore, it is the devil who does it, who carries 
her away on the fork, when he sees his signs used by the 
witch." 191 Geiler also believed that witches with the 
devil's aid could produce storms, could draw milk from 
an axe-handle, could substitute changelings for children, 
etc. 192 ' ' The devil has made a compact with witches and 
has given them words and signs; when they use these 
signs and words, he does whatever they ask and so the 
devil acts through their will. ' ' But this does not make a 
witch any the less deserving of death, according to the 
divine law "die soil man toten." The fact that more 
women than men were given to witchcraft, Geiler, 3 ike the 
authors of the Malleus, attributes to the nature of women ; 
women are more credulous than men, therefore, the more 
easily persuaded by the devil ; they have greater powers 



191 Nun fragestu, was sagstu uns aber von den weibern, die zu 
nacbt faren und so si zusammen kumen? etc. 
182 Hansen, op. cit, 290. 



THE CHURCH, 1200-1700 A. D. 61 

of imagination and lastly "they are loquacious. What a 
woman knows must come out, it will not stay in. Hence, 
when the devil instructs women, they give this instruc- 
tion to other women, and so on, and thus he wins num- 
berless souls. ' ' 193 

In 1505 appeared the Question de le strie or Questio 
lamiarum of Samuel de Cassinis of Milan, which deals 
principally with the power of the devil over human 
beings, with the night-flights of the lamiae or witches and 
with their attendance at the Sabbat. The author con- 
tends that while the devil has great power, he cannot 
carry people from one place to another. He argues that 
to perform such an act would require a miracle ; that God 
alone works miracles ; that if the devil could so transport 
persons to the Sabbat, it could be done only by the permis- 
sion of God, Who in such a case would appear to favor sin 
since the Sabbat is sinful. He likewise refutes all oppos- 
ing arguments and proves conclusively that there is no 
truth in the stories of transportations by the devil. 194 

The next year Vincenz Dodo of Pavia wrote his Apol- 
ogia against the Questio of Cassinis. In this pamphlet 
Dodo proves at least to his own satisfaction several 
statements denied by his adversary. Among them are 
the following: a devil or an angel is able to assume a 
natural body ; the devil by the permission of God can do 
much evil (this permission of God is negative) ; the devil 
is able to transport persons from one place to another, 
therefore, he carries the witches to the Sabbat ; the devil 
frequently deceives the witches into believing that they 
have been actually present at the Sabbat when such is 
only a delusion. 195 

The Dominican inquisitor, Bernard of Como, in his 
Tractatus de Strigiis, written in 1508, asserts the 
reality of the night-rides, the Sabbats, the bewitching of 

193 Hansen, op. cit, 290. 
1M Id., 262-273. 
195 Id., 276. 



62 THE CHURCH, 1200-1700 A. D. 

children, and shows how these witches fall under the jur- 
isdiction of the Inquisition. He says that many persons, 
especially women, meet at certain places at specified times 
and that the devil appears before them in human form; 
these women deny the faith, their baptism, also God and 
the Blessed Virgin. After they have trampled on a cross, 
they take the devil as their master, promising to obey him 
in all things. 196 Bernard then cites examples of such 
gatherings in the diocese of Como and the neighboring 
places and says that even children are taken to these 
meetings where they learn to deny the Catholic faith. 
This belief in the reality of the Sabbats and night-rides 
is not contrary to the recommendation of the Canon Epis- 
copi, according to this inquisitor, because the Canon spoke 
only of the witches of the first nine centuries and the 
witches of the present day are a different sect. Bernard 
does not believe, however, that men can really be changed 
into animals. The detection and punishment of witches 
belongs to the Inquisition, which alone can deal with them 
as is befitting their crime. 197 

The learned Benedictine abbot, John Trithemius, who 
combated so many superstitions, shared fully in the be- 
lief of his age concerning witches. In 1508 he wrote his 
answer to eight theological questions proposed by the 
emperor, Maximilian, Jocmnis Trittenhemii liber octo 
quaestionum ad Maximilianum Caesarem. The fifth, 
sixth and seventh questions deal with magic and witch- 
craft. 5) De reprobis atque maleficis ; 6) De potestate mal- 
eficarum; 7) De permissione divina. 198 The abbot declares 
that many persons have an express or tacit compact with 
the devil; that some women pay homage to him and re- 
ceive his aid in their wicked deeds. 199 Witches are not to 
be tolerated but, on the contrary, are to be exterminated, 

196 Tractatus Eiusdem R. P. F., Bernardi Comensis, De Strigiis, 
Rome, 1584, 1, 2, 3, 4. 

197 Id., 9, 10, 12. 

198 Hansen, Quellen, 292; Zauberwahn, 516; Riezler, Geschichte der 
Hexenprozesse in Bayern. Stuttgart, 1896, 122. 

189 Hansen, Quellen, 292. 



THE CHURCH, 1200-1700 A. D. 63 

according to the command of God (Exod. XXII, 18 ; Deut. 
XVIII, 10-12) "Wizards thou shalt not suffer to live." 
With regard to the deeds of witches, Trithemius gives the 
traditional list — producing tempests, devastating fields, 
injuring men and beasts. "Maleficiae quodam profes- 
sions genere subiiciuntur daemonibus, quorum minis- 
terio aerem turbant, tempestates suscitant, fruges devas- 
tant, homines et iumenta infirmant. Agunt cum daemoni- 
bus spurcissimae voluptatis f oeda commertia et eos perni- 
ciosis carminibus quos voluerint ab inferis revocant in 
aspectum. Harum facta non miracula sed potius male- 
ficia dicenda sunt, et extremo supplicio merito puni- 
enda," 200 In answer to the sixth and seventh questions, 
Trithemius states that the devil exercises his power by the 
permission of God. 

A second work of this scholar dates from the same 
year and is a pamphlet, Antipalus maleficiorum writ- 
ten by command of the Elector Joachim I of Branden- 
burg. Four kinds of witches are distinguished by the 
author: those who, without any league with the devil, 
prepare injurious and deadly drinks from herbs and 
roots; those who practice their magic arts by means of 
formulas forbidden by the Church ; those who have open 
relations with the demons and by their aid "aerem 
turbant, fulgura suscitant, vertiginem capitibus immit- 
tunt, visum oculis auf erunt. ' ' 201 The fourth and most 
dangerous class is composed of those who abjure the 
Christian faith and sell themselves to the devil ; these are 
able to produce all diseases "morbum caducum, epilep- 
siam, pestem et febrem in hominibus excitant, dementiam 
et insaniam nescientibus procurant. ' ,202 According to 
the abbot, these witches are very numerous in every prov- 
ince and there are few inquisitors and almost no judges 
to avenge the sin against God and nature. Men and cat- 
tle die through the perfidy of these women and no one 



208 Hansen, op. cit, 294. 

M1 Ibid. 

,0J Ibid. 



64 THE CHURCH, 1200-1700 A. D. 

thinks it happens by means of witchcraft. Many suffer 
the worst diseases and do not know they are bewitched. 203 
These witches should be most severely punished, " ultimo 
ignis supplicio jure punienda. ' ' 204 No one, however, could 
be ruled by the devil and misled into witchcraft except of 
his free will, and every Christian possessed in the Sacra- 
ments and prayers of the Church a sure means against 
all the arts of witches. 

The Layenspiegel of Ulrich Tengler, a jurist of 
Hochstadt, took up the question from the lawyer's view- 
point, though the book shows that the author was thor- 
oughly conversant with the teaching of theologians. 
Tengler says there is great diversity of opinion among 
jurists concerning the deeds of witches, their ability to 
produce storms, to afflict men and beasts, to ride at night, 
etc, because it is difficult for the mind to comprehend 
these things. 205 Much of the book is based on the Malleus 
Maleficarum, especially the pages treating of the investi- 
gation and punishment of witches. 206 

A Dominican inquisitor, Jacob von Hoogstraten, in 
1510 wrote a pamphlet, Quam graviter peccent quae- 
rentes auxilium a maleficis, which he devotes to a discus- 
sion of this theme only, and does not mention the witches 
of his time. 207 

Martin of Aries, professor of theology and canon law 
in Pampeluna, in 1515 wrote his Tractatus de super sti- 
tionibus contra maleficia seu sortilegia, quae hodie vigent 
in orb e terranum, which deals with all the common super- 
stitions. The author holds that the witch-flights are 
merely illusions, produced by the devil in the minds of 
women who have sworn allegiance to him; that witches 
by the help of the devil can destroy fields and fruits and 
harm men; and finally that such persons are cut off from 
the Catholic faith and should be severely punished. 

203 Hansen, op. cit, 295. 

20 *Ibid. 

20B Riezler, op. cit., 132. 

S06 Malleus Maleficarum, p. Ill, q. 17. 

207 Hansen, Quellen, 306. 



CHAPTER VI 

ECCLESIASTICAL jWRITEBS, 1200-1700 
(Continued) 

Among Italian theologians treating this subject we 
find two names of great weight, Silvester Prierias and 
Bartholomew de Spina, members of the Dominican Order. 
The first of these, Prierias, was at one time Master of 
the Sacred Palace and inquisitor in northern Italy, on 
which account his work is of great interest. His book, 
De Strigimagarum Daemonumque Mirandis, libri tres, 
was finished in 1521. It is divided into three parts, the 
first two of which deal with the theoretical aspects of 
witchcraft and sorcery, while the third contains instruc- 
tions for the conduct of witch-trials. The learned Domi- 
nican holds to the reality of witchcraft and the existence 
of witches, ' ' Quod vero et magi et mage sine numero sint, 
testes sunt populi, qui gregatum horum maleficia patiun- 
tur." 208 These witches have a compact with the devil by 
whose aid they work their evil spells. The writer believes 
also in the reality of witch-flights and the Sabbats and 
proves his assertion by examples in his own country. He 
devotes part of Book II to the denial of the similarity 
between the witches spoken of in the Canon Episcopi and 
those of his own time, for the Canon Episcopi had forbid- 
den belief in witches and Prierias undertakes to show 
that one can be a good Catholic and yet recognize the 
possibility of witches and their magic arts. The third 
part of his treatise takes up the question of the probable 
heresy in witchcraft and gives instructions concerning the 
trial and punishment of those accused of the black art. 
' ' Unde si crimen f atentur et volunt redire, abiurata heresi 
ad penitentiam admittuntur. ' ,209 "Si autem crimen 



208 Prierias, De Strigimagarum Daemonumque Mirandis, Libri Tres. 
Rome, 1575. Lib. II, c. 2, 140. 
"•Id., II, c. 3, 145. 

65 



66 ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS, 1200-1700 A. D. 

non f atetur postquam est convictus nee consentit abiurare, 
est ut hereticus impenitens condemnandus." 210 . . . 
"Quanto magis circa heresim strigimagarum ubi sem- 
per concurrit aut evidens factum in pueris hominibus 
vel iumentis aut indicium facti, puta per instrumenta 
reperta. ' ' 211 

Bartholomew de Spina (d. 1546), a pupil of Prierias, 
teacher of theology at the universities of Bologna and 
Padua, and Provincial of the Dominican Order in the 
Holy Land, wrote three books dealing with the question of 
witchcraft; Questio de strigibus et lamiis, 1523, Trac- 
tatus de praeeminentia sacrae theologiae super alias om- 
nes scientias et praecipue humanarum legum, 1525 ; Apol- 
ogiae tres de lamiis adversus Joannem Frwiciscum Pon- 
zinibium iurisperitum, 1525. The Questio treats of 
the witch-delusion in all its phases ; it attempts to refute 
all arguments against the truth of the practice and fully 
treats the stereotyped question of witch-rides, incubi and 
succubi, Sabbats, etc. Unlike some of the teachers of the 
time, Spina seems to believe in the reality of witch- 
rides ; in chapter five he says that people can be carried 
by demons over great distances and the sacred writings 
do not contradict this fact but seem to strengthen it. Ac- 
cording to him the changing of men or women into ani- 
mals is only a delusion 212 which, like many other acts 
attributed to witches, takes place only in sleep. In chapter 
nineteen he gives modern examples of the apparent 
change of witches into cats but treats this as a delusion 
produced by the evil spirit. Other chapters are devoted 
to an explanation of the Canon Episcopi, of the various 
powers attributed to witches, and finally of the divine 
permission which allows such evils to exist for the sancti- 
fication of the good. 



210 Prierias, op. cit, lib., Ill, c. 4, 243. 

'"Ibid. 

212 Hansen, Quellen, 329. 






ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS, 1200-1700 A. D. 67 

The Tractatus de praeeminentia sacrae theologiae 
says that in regard to this cult of witchcraft , its possi- 
bility or its actuality, whether it is to be regarded as 
heresy or not, theology alone can decide what is to be 
taught and what course of action is to be followed in 
dealing with witches. 213 In the Apologia, Spina refutes 
the various arguments of the jurist, Francis Ponzinibius, 
whose De lamiis treats the witches' nights and Sabbats 
as illusions and justifies his own position regarding the 
principal assertions concerning witchcraft. 

Paulus de Grillandus Castilioneus, auditor of crimi- 
nal cases in the diocese of Arezzo, in 1525, wrote a pam- 
phlet concerning heretics and sorcerers. He says that the 
question whether witches are transported bodily or in 
imagination only, by the demon, is one of great im- 
portance which occupies the attention of many writers. 
Doctors of laws for the greater part hold that witches 
are not bodily carried by the devil, but such people are 
deluded by the evil spirit, according to the Canon Epis- 
copi. Theologians hold the contrary, that the devil is 
able to transport persons through the air, and conse- 
quently these witches are so carried to the Sabbats. Gril- 
landus then discusses the opinions of those who believe 
in the reality of witch-flights and cites an example to 
show that though women believe they really travel at 
night to the meeting-places of witches, in reality they do 
not move from the place in which they are. Neverthe- 
less many eminent men hold the contrary opinion, among 
them St. Bonaventure, St. Thomas Aquinas and 
Prierias. 214 



2,3 Hansen, op. cit., 334. "cum ergo articulus hie de secta strigum 
an inquam detur de facto an de possibili, an haeresim sapiant vel non 
sapiant manifeste quae de tali secta narrantur, ad solam spectet 
theologiam, neque eum possunt ista cognosci nisi ipsa docente neque de 
talibus in iure quoquo modo tractatur, nisi quatenus ex illius fonte 
assumpta eidem theologiae iure subserviunt. 

,u Hansen, Quellen, 340. 



68 ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS, 1200-1700 A. D. 

In 1540 Arnaldus Albertini, Inquisitor in Valencia 
and Sicily and later bishop of Patti, wrote a book entitled 
De Agnoscendis assertionibus catholicis et haereticis, 
two chapters of which he devotes to the question of the 
reality of witch-flights and the punishment of penitent 
witches by the Inquisition. He brings forward many 
statements in proof of the witch-rides, viz : the power of 
the devil over human beings, the desire of certain women 
to pay allegiance to demons, known examples of such 
flights, etc., and ends with the assertion that it is not 
heretical to hold the opinion that women can be carried 
through the air, because of a pact between them and the 
devil. 215 According to the writer this transportation can- 
not be denied, because if the devil carried Christ and 
placed Him upon the pinnacle of the temple, much more 
easily can he carry these women. 216 

With regard to the punishment of witches, Albertini 
declares that though guilty of heresy, they should, if 
repentant, be admitted to reconciliation with the Church. 
" When the bishop or the apostolic inquisitor learns of the 
crime of heresy or of the black art, if the accused confess 
that he has committed murder or any other grave crime 
on account of which he deserves the extreme punishment 
of civil law, he neither ought nor can he hand him over to 
the secular arm on account of such accusation, in such 
wise that the judge condemn him to death as one accused 
of heresy, but he ought, if the accused is sincerely desir- 
ous of returning to the bosom of the Church, admit him to 



slB "Quod non est haereticum asserere, mulieres de quibus agimus, 
portari per diversa terrarum spacia de die vel de nocte ex pacto 
inter eas et daemonum inito, et intrare domos de nocte et ibi sut- 
focare infantes. . . . Magister Sylvester in sua Summa, in verbo 
haereticus 3. concludens, has strigas aliquando portari corporaliter 
a daemone per diversa loca, et hoc non est impossible, nee est haereti- 
cum sic asserere, aliquando haec eis contigere mentaliter et imaginarie." 
Hansen, 348. 

aia Hansen, op. cit, 351. 






ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS, 1200-1700 A. D. 69 

reconciliation, absolution and freedom from censure of 
excommunication, after he has abjured his heresy. ' ,217 

In Spain, also, several writers devoted part of the 
works to the engrossing subject, among them, Pedro 
Ciruelo, professor in the University of Alcala, who pub- 
lished his Opus de magica supersticione in 1521 and 
in 1539 his Reprovacion de las super sticiones y hech- 
izerias, libro muy utile y necessario a todos los buenos 
christianos. 218 Ciruelo holds that though witches exist 
and work evil by means of a pact with the devil, yet the 
witch-rides are only illusions caused by the evil one. 
Nevertheless the devil teaches these witches many secrets 
•of nature and they can perform marvels to the great as- 
tonishment of the simple. Yet these arts are against the 
teaching of the Scripture, of the Fathers, and of holy 
Church. Anyone who makes use of the black art is an 
apostate and a traitor. 219 

In 1540 Alphons a Castro, professor of theology at 
Salamanca, devoted part of his work to the questions of 
heresy and witchcraft, Be impia sortilegarum, malefica- 
rum et lamiarum haeresi earumque punitione. He be- 
lieves in the reality of witch-flights and gives examples 
of such, which have taken place in various parts of Spain. 
He speaks of the crimes committed by witches, such as 
adoration of demons, attendance at the Sabbat, killing of 
children, etc., and declares that all witches are heretics 
and apostates and v should be punished as such. He says 
that women are more proficient in the diabolical arts than 

217 Hansen, 353. "Quod episcopus seu inquisitor apostolicus cognos- 
cens de crimine haeresis seu artis maleficae contra reum illius criminis, 
si reus ipse confiteatur crimen homicidii ab eo commissi seu aliud 
crimen gravissimum, quo quibus secundum leges civiles deberet ultimo 
supplicio damnari, non debet ob hoc crimen talem reum nee potest de 
iure tradere ilium iudici saeculari taliter. ut iudex secularis ilium morte 
condemnet, sicut condemnat iudex sibi traditum ob crimen haeresis, 
sed debet ilium reum volentem puro corde et non ficto redire ad 
gremium ecclesiae admittere ad reconciliationem, beneficio absoluc- 
ionis ab excommunicatione sibi impenso, abiurata primitus haeresi." 

''•According to Hansen, this title is the Spanish translation of the 
old Latin title. 

,,9 Hansen, Quellen, 324. "El tal christiano es apostat y traydor 
contra la yglesia catholica." 



70 ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS, 1200-1700 A. D. 

men, because of their strong imaginations, and because 
they are easily deluded. Because witches commit such 
crimes by means of their magic, they should be sought 
out and punished for them. " These wicked people, 
whether men or women, who use this diabolical art, should 
be punished as heretics. But if besides these matters 
which regard faith, they commit other crimes, on account 
of which they can be condemned without the sentence of 
an ecclesiastical judge, the secular power alone can take 
them into custody and punish them with capital punish- 
ment. For, as we said above, they kill children at night, 
or they cause illness and weak health and commit other 
similar crimes which deserve the penalty of death even 
though there is no evidence of unbelief or apostasy." 220 
A third Spanish writer was the Dominican Francis de 
Victoria, professor of theology at Salamanca, who dis- 
cusses the question of magic arts in one part of his work, 
Relectiones 12 theologicae, 1540. He gives credit to 
the stories of the ancient witches, Circe, Hecate, etc., and 
says that not all the deeds of magicians are false, this is 
proved from the Scriptures. 221 Of the reality of witch- 
flight he has no doubt, "daemones et magi virtute dae- 
monum possunt movere et transferre corpora de loco ad 
locum.' ' Again, " nulla ratione potest negari quin dae- 
mones possint movere localiter corpora." 222 

About 1570 the renowned jurist of the Eoman Curia, 
the Spanish Francis Pegna, in his four commentaries, 
expressed as the common opinion of theologians, that 
witches flew through the air to their nightly orgies, that 
this was "verissima, multis quidem rationibus et eviden- 



220 Hansen, 344. "Sed praeter haec, quae ad fidem spectant, quaedam 
alia flagitia committunt, propter quae absque iudicis ecclesiastici sen- 
tentia, qui illos de haeresi damnaret, sola saecularis potestas potest illos 
capere et ultimo supplieio punire. Nam . . . pueros noctu occidunt, aut 
aegros et valetudinarios efficiunt et alia similia committunt, propter 
quae digni sunt morte, etiamsi de illorum infidelitate aut apostasia 
non constaret." 

221 Id., 355. 

222 Id., 356. 



ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS, 1200-1700 A. D. 71 

tibus signis atque experiments comprobata. ' m3 He also 
followed the scholastic teaching as to the reality of in- 
cubi and succubi but held that the changing of witches 
into animals was only an illusion. 224 

As Germany was the principal center of witchcraft 
it is not surprising that it produced a number of writers 
on that subject, especially is this true of the latter part of 
the sixteenth century. In 1589, Peter Binsfeld, auxiliary 
bishop at Treves, published his work, Tractatus de 
confessionibus maleficorum et sag arum } an et quanta fides 
Us adhibenda sit which is in direct contradiction to the 
humane work of the Protestant Weyer, and which also 
largely fostered the witch-persecution. In the introduc- 
tion, Binsfeld says that there are different opinions con- 
cerning the nature of witches and witch-trials; some 
think all such things are illusions, other declare they are 
impossible, as for himself, he rejects the assertion of 
Bodin 225 that people through the help of the devil can 
change themselves into animals, but he holds that many 
deeds, ascribed to witches are true. The use of trial by 
water he considers a work of the devil; he declares it 
godless to refuse the Sacraments to those who are peni- 
tent; only the stubborn ones are to be burned alive, the 
others are to be executed before burning. Yet he believes 
in intercourse with the devil and in the reality of 
witch-rides, in support of which assertion, he appeals not 
only to theologians and lawyers, but also "to most cer- 
tain and undoubted experience, confirmed by the general 
voice of the people and we may well say that the voice of 
the people is the voice of God, since all truth is of God, ' ' 
' ' atque his certe dicere possumus, vox populi vox Dei, cum 
omnis Veritas a Deo sit." 226 On account of the gravity of 

223 Directorium Inquisitorum F. Nicholai Eymerici, Ordinis Prae- 
dicatorum Cum Commentariis Francisci Peniae, Venice, 1595. Quaest., 
XLIII; Comment, XLIII, 343. 

224 Francisci Pegnae Annotationes in Tractatum de Strigiis Ber- 
nardi Comensis. Rome, 1584, 156. 

225 Bodin, Demonomaie des Sorciers, Cologne, 1593, lib., I, 6. 

22c Janssen, op. cit, VIII, 655 seqq. 



72 ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS, 1200-1700 A. D. 

the sin of witchcraft, Binsfeld maintains that in witch- 
trials it is justifiable to overstep the regular laws and 
ordinances regarding torture and punishment. "Regu- 
lare et iuridicum est, quod, propter enormitatem et im- 
manitatem criminis, iura et statuta transgredi licet. ' ' 227 

Very distressing results proceeded from his doctrine 
that, on the ground of the statements of witches concern- 
ing their accomplices, the authorities had a right to sub- 
ject the persons indicated to torture ; there being no doubt, 
as a rule, of the truth of such statements. 228 

At the same time, there lived at Treves, the Dutch 
cleric Cornelius Kallidius Loos, who had been driven out 
of his native land by the Protestants. Out of pity for the 
victims of the witchcraft persecution, who were tortured 
and burned, he wrote a pamphlet, Be vera et falsa 
magia and sent it to the press without having submitted 
it for ecclesiastical approbation. The manuscript was 
seized when only a few sheets had been printed, Loos 
was confined in an abbey and in 1592 summoned before 
the ecclesiastical court presided over by Binsfeld who 
ordered him to make a retractation in word and writing. 
Loos had asserted that the whole system of witchcraft 
was a creation of the imagination, that there were no 
persons who had abjured God and who worshiped the 
devil. He was obliged to retract this statement, as well 
as the fundamental principle of his pamphlet "that all 
that was written about corporeal fights of witches was 
nothing but illusion, superstition and invention. ' ,229 
Loos ' attempt to put an end to the witch-epidemic was of 
no practical use; far more numerous than his followers 
were those who, like Binsfeld, defended the witch-super- 
stition, encouraged persecution and urged rulers and 
people to continue it. 



227 Ibid. 

228 Duhr, Die Stellung der Jesuiten in den deutschen Hexenprozessen, 
Cologne, 1900, points out that Binsfeld in this respect was at variance 
with the practice of the Inquisition, p. 30. 

22e Soldan-Heppe, op. cit, II, 22-24; Riezler, op. cit, 245. 



ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS, 1200-1700 A. D. 73 

In 1596 Franz Agricola, pastor of Sittard in the duchy 
of Julich, deemed it necessary to enlighten rulers and 
magistrates on the sin of witchcraft and its punishment. 
Accordingly he wrote a pamphlet, Von Zauberer, Zau- 
berinnen, und Hexen in the preface of which he states 
that "the most scandalous, abominable, and dangerous 
sin of witchcraft has spread in all directions, no country, 
town, village or district, no class of society is free from 
it. ' mo He maintains the reality of all the arts of witches, 
their journeyings, their intercourse with the devil, and 
shows the necessity of their being punished. He says that 
sorceresses, or witches, are more wicked than heathen or 
idolatrous people, than blasphemers and perjurers, etc. 
He advises that care should be taken not to punish the 
innocent, rejects trial by water as superstitious, and 
speaks at length of the means which should be used to 
bring witches to penitence and reform. The most re- 
markable part of the work is the seventh, in which Agri- 
cola brings forward fifty-one arguments against the real- 
ity of sorcery and all the arts of the witches, not one of 
which, however, he will admit. He urges on subjects 
that if rulers are negligent in their punishment of 
witches, they themselves should take the matter in hand, 
spare no expense for rooting out the "accursed confed- 
erates of the devil" and that they should earnestly keep 
the magistrates to their duty in this respect. 231 

Another scholar who treated the subject of witchcraft 
with the greatest diligence and acumen, was the lawyer 
Nicholas Eemigius, privy councillor and chief judge in 
the duchy of Lorraine. In his book, Daemonolatreia, 
printed in 1596, he uses the confessions of some 800 
witches who, during his term of office had, within sixteen 
years, been condemned to the stake. 232 These women con- 
fessed that they received from the devil, power to assume 



230 Janssen, op. cit, VIII, 656-659. 

2S1 Id., VIII, 658. 

232 Remigius, Daemonolatreia libri tres, Lyons, 1595, lib. I, cap. 15. 



74 ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS, 1200-1700 A. D. 

the shape of small animals and so get into houses at night, 
when they took their human form and poisoned the sleep- 
ing household, or did other dreadful deeds. At the trial 
of witches, Remigius says, everything connected with 
them is suspicious, whether they go often to church or 
never, whether their bodies are cold or hot, and in every 
case unrelenting punishment is decreed against them. 
Remigius has not the slightest doubt that many children 
take part in the witch-gatherings. "When the devil has 
once obtained entrance into a family, he does not easily 
let himself be driven out again. He works upon the moth- 
ers to such an extent that they dedicate their children to 
him, take them to witch-dances at the age of seven or 
twelve, and initiate them in all the arts of witchcraft. ' ' 
These children should be punished and Remigius says that 
he had such children whipped while their parents were 
burned at the stake. He adds, "They should be com- 
pletely exterminated so that no one would receive any 
further injury from them. Wholesome zeal is always 
preferable to outward semblance of mercifulness." 233 

The excitement due to witch-persecution reached its 
highest pitch between 1570 and 1640, during which time 
the human mind seemed to have become unbalanced. 
Diseases, fire, storms, famine, wars, great wealth, disap- 
pointment in love, remarkable beauty or ugliness, great 
knowledge, were all ascribed to the influence of the devil. 234 
No rank was secure against accusation ; priests, religious, 
civil authorities, the wealthy, the poor, even children 
were denounced and executed. During this violent period 
of persecution for witchcraft, the Jesuits, especially in 
Germany, exerted a powerful influence as professors and 
writers of philosophy, dogmatic and moral theology, and 
as confessors and preachers; 235 hence any work on this 
subject of the black art, would be incomplete without 

23S Remigius, op. cit., lib., II, cap. c. 

234 Schwickerath, American Catholic Quarterly Review, XXVII, 476. 

MC Ibid. 



ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS, 1200-1700 A. D. 75 

some reference to their labors. It must be noted that the 
Society of Jesus, as such, never adopted an attitude of 
any sort towards the witch-trials, in spite of opinions to 
the contrary. Fr. Duhr, in his Die Stellung der Jesu- 
iten, says, "The generals of the Society, at a distance 
from the scene of the witch-burnings, received the most 
contradictory reports about them, and of the cruelty prac- 
tised by both laity and clergy against witches, and they 
found it difficult to form an opinion as to whether there 
was really question of such grave injustice as they were 
led to suppose existed. Had they found such to be the 
case it would have been their duty to send instructions to 
Germany. They contented themselves, however, with 
maintaining a neutral position, at the same time enjoining 
on their subjects to abstain from interference in the trials, 
whether against, or on behalf of, the witches. As regards 
individual Jesuits, we find in this respect, the greatest 
diversity of opinions. Some were convinced of the injus- 
tice of the proceedings, others saw in the number of con- 
demnations a proof of the frightful spread of witchcraft 
and believed they should raise their voice in behalf of the 
rooting out of this great evil. Hence writer was opposed 
to writer, preacher to preacher. ' ' 236 Father Schwickeratb 
asks, "Can it be reasonably expected that the Jesuits 
were so far ahead of their time, so enlightened that none 
of them should have shared the all-prevailing supersti- 
tion? The Jesuits were children of their age, and like 
others, acted accordingly. Indeed, there were Jesuits who 
advocated severe measures against the witches; but on 
the other hand we find among them noble champions of 
the innocent victims. ' ' 237 

One of the most important Jesuits was Gregory of 
Valentia, a Spaniard, professor of theology at Ingolstadt, 
who, in 1595, wrote his Commentariorum Theologicorum 
Tomi Quattuor, which gave him the name of one of the 



MC Duhr, op. cit, 96. 

287 Am. Cath. Quart, XXVII, 478. 



76 ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS, 1200-1700 A. D. 

greatest theologians of the sixteenth century. He treats 
witchcraft in the third volume of his work. 238 The intro- 
duction declares that magistrates are strictly obliged to 
examine and punish witchcraft, this he endeavors to 
prove from the Scriptures. He then takes up several 
points in detail, such as those regarding the conduct of 
the judicial inquiry, the signs that suffice for imprisoning 
and torturing a person, the nature of the proceeding, etc. 
Valentia gives in great detail the signs by which a witch 
may be recognized; these are, 1) from her own confession, 
if she admits the performance of acts pertaining to witch- 
craft; 2) from the confessions of those guilty of the same 
crimes; 3) from the possession of a compact which gives 
the soul to the devil, after renouncing Christ; or from 
the impression of a certain mark (stigma) which is 
usually conferred on witches ; 4) from the possession of 
sacred Hosts, certain poisons, toads, human limbs, wax 
figures pierced with needles; 5) from having been con- 
victed of habitually invoking the devil; from having 
threatened evil to another ; 6) from the testimony of wit- 
nesses who saw the accused besmear animals, which after- 
wards died, with poison or a salve; for having done the 
same to children or others. 239 A prudent and diligent 
judge can add other signs, especially from former witch- 
trials and from the Malleus Maleficarum. According to 
the author, witches can be lawfully tortured by the Inqui- 
sition, because the crime of witchcraft is so difficult to 
prove. 249 When imprisoned, witches should be allowed to 
receive spiritual aid, and be reconciled to God, but after 
the death sentence is pronounced, no denial on the part 
of the condemned is to be accepted. 241 

Another Spanish Jesuit, Martin Delrio, a jurist and 
professor of philosophy and theology, in 1599 published 



238 Gregorii de Valentia, Commentariorum Theologicorum Tomus 
Tertius, Ingolstadt, 1603. Disp., VI; Quaest., XIII; Punct., 4. 
220 0p. cit., Disp. VI; Quaest, XIII, 944. 
240 Ibid. 
241 Ibid. 



ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS, 1200-1700 A. D. 77 

his D is quisitionum Magicarum libri sex in which are found 
important regulations for the use of the rack, as well as a 
complete treatment of witchcraft, with numerous refer- 
ences to contemporary law-books and judicial practices. 
Delrio shared the witch-superstition of his time; belief 
in the reality of witch-rides, of incubi and succubi, of 
children born of the devil, etc. In his opinion, the actual 
basis of all witchcraft is the compact with the devil and 
he maintains that the witches, even though they injure no 
one, should be punished because of this compact. He, 
however, labored zealously for the mitigation of the cru- 
elty of the witch-trials and endeavored to impress the 
judges with the principle that it was better for a hundred 
guilty persons to escape than for one innocent to be con- 
demned. 242 If the judge can draw out the truth without 
recourse to torture, he should do so, for trial by torture is 
dangerous and deceptive and is often the cause of an 
innocent person suffering the severest punishment, 
"questio enim res fragilis est et periculosa et quae saepe 
veritatem fallit, saepe fit, ut innocens pro incerto scelere 
certissimas luat poenas." 243 Delrio also forbids the use 
of torture beyond one hour. Yet all these circumstances 
did not prevent the book from being the source of great 
evil, as appears from hundreds of trials in which Delrio 
is referred to as the recognized authority who declares 
legitimate the harsh measures against witches. 

Gregory of Valentia and Delrio were opposed by the 
most distinguished Jesuit theologian of the age in Ger- 
many, Adam Tanner, who in 1626 published his great 
work, Universa theologica scholastica, speculative^, prac- 
tioa ad methodum sancti Thomae, certain portions of 
which he devoted to the witch-question. He regards the 
witch-flights as dreams and self-deception on the part of 
women and as the result of demoniacal delusion, even 
though the witches should declare they had been carried 

242 Delrio, op. cit., lib. V, sec. 1. 
a48 Id., sec. 9. 



78 ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS, 1200-1700 A. D. 

away by the evil spirit. 244 Even if the women declare they 
had been carried away by Satan in the shape of a cat or 
mouse or some other animal they are not to be believed, 
for no spirit has power to change a human body into the 
shape of an animal. The demons, of themselves, without 
the permission of God have no power to injure others 
through the instrumentality of witches, unless the persons 
make use of salves which are naturally injurious to human 
beings. Tanner demands a remodelling of the judicial 
procedure against witches and declares that a witch 
should be allowed to have counsel to defend her and that 
no confession obtained by means of torture should be ac- 
cepted; further, he demands that the most intelligent 
judges should be employed and that whenever possible, 
they should be assisted by a good theologian. He asks 
that penitent witches should not be burned, but receive 
ecclesiastical penances, like those imposed in the early 
Church. Above all, witchcraft is to be combatted by 
spiritual means, by prayer, good education of children, 
invocation of the saints and attendance at Mass. 245 

Tanner's salutary influence is noticed in the work of 
another German Jesuit, Paul Layman, who published his 
Theologia moralis in 1625. In this book, he devotes spe- 
cial attention to the witch-question, particularly to trials 
and the use of torture ; while he does not deny witchcraft 
nor absolutely condemn the trials, yet he says much to 
prevent judicial murders. He declares that the existence 
of the crime of witchcraft is very difficult to establish, for 
the persons concerned are mostly "wavering, hysterical, 
often crazy women, who from their own confession might 
be deluded by the evil spirit. ' ' 246 Eecourse should not be 
had to the rack until the accused have been allowed to de- 
fend themselves; confessions obtained by torture should 
not be acted on, for they (the witches) are much fright- 

24 *Diefenbach, Der Hexenwahn vor und nach der Glaubensspaltung 
in Deutschland, Mainz, 1886, 276. 
246 Duhr, op. cit., 45-47; 53. 
248 Laymann, Theologia Moralis. Bamberg, 1669, 430. 



ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS. 1200-1700 A. D. 79 

ened and almost* despairing, so that they are inclined to 
confess a crime which they have not committed, in order 
to escape by death the ignominy into which they have 
fallen. 247 

Like his master, Tanner, Frederic von Spee adopted 
the same attitude of leniency and became one of the 
greatest champions of humanity and justice in witch- 
trials. In 1627 Spee became confessor to those accused 
of witchcraft in Paderborn and after he had attended to 
their death, 200 witches, 90 per cent, of whom he declared 
to be innocent, he wrote his famous book, Cautio Crimi- 
nalis, in 1631. 248 

The Cautio contains fifty-one Dubia or questions 
which the author answers by referring frequently to Tan- 
ner *s opinions and very often argues against Binsfeld 
and Delrio. He asserts his belief in the reality of witch- 
craft which he considers a most atrocious crime, to be 
justly punished ; torture, however, should not be extreme 
and the accused should be given the right to appeal from 
the torture. 249 If the judge should extort a confession by 
means of the rack, such confession should be considered 
null. 250 Spee says that torture fills the land with witches, 
because the torments are so frightful that many confess 
crimes they have not committed; women especially are 
prone to accuse themselves falsely. 251 Persons who, under 
torture confess falsely, are not guilty of mortal sin. 252 
According to the author, witch-marks are not to be taken 
as a sign of guilt, "I did not see any and do not believe 
in them and I deplore the shameful credulity of so many 
distinguished men in this regard. " ' 253 This work of Spee 



247 Layman, op cit., 430. 

248 This book was at first published anonymously, because Tanner, for 
his opposition to the burning of witches, had himself been declared 
suspect of witchcraft. Diefenbach, 279. 

249 Frederic Spee, Cautio Criminalis seu de Processibus contra 
Sagas, Rome, 1657. Dub., XII. 

250 Id., Deb. XXIX. 

281 Id., XX. 

252 Ibid. 

2B3 Id., XLIII. 



80 ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS, 1200-1706 A. D. 

throws interesting light on the classes of persons who 
rouse the Inquisition against witches. There are four 
classes : First, some theologians and prelates who are de- 
voted to their studies and enjoy peace and tranquility; 
they have no idea of what is going on outside, no idea of 
the prisons, racks, etc. The second class is made up of 
skilled lawyers, who find the trials a profitable business. 
To the third class belong the unskilled and common peo- 
ple, who are malicious and seek to gratify their jealousy 
and enmity. To the fourth class belong those who have 
been accused themselves and who seek to cast the crime 
on someone else, these last are worse than all the 
others. 254 Spee concludes the book with these words : "I 
cannot say more for grief and sorrow; I cannot publish 
this little book, nor translate it into German, which would 
not be without great benefit. One thing I ask of all edu- 
cated, pious, prudent critics and I ask it by the judgment 
seat of the Almighty God, to read carefully and ponder 
over these lines: All magistrates and princes are in 
great danger of eternal perdition if they do not turn their 
closest attention to this matter. . . . May the authorities 
take care of themselves and the whole flock for which God 
will one day call them to account. ' ,255 The Jesuits of the 
time were anxious about the effect of the book, for great 
difficulties were likely to arise on account of the way in 
which Spee had attacked judges and princes. It is known 
that some of the jurists even before the publication of 
this work had demanded the expulsion of the order from 
Germany, for protecting the witches. Of the princes who 
were most zealous in the witch-persecution, not a few 
were protectors and benefactors of Jesuit colleges. The 
Society had to expect their wrath if a member of the order 
censured them so severely. 256 Yet the expected results did 
not follow and "the Society may point to his work as a 

2ei Spee, op. cit, Dub., XV. 

2B8 Spee, op. cit., p. 401. 

2B6 Schwickerath, Am. Cath. Quart. Review, 508. 



ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS, 1200-1700 A. D. 81 

full off-set for the deplorable blunders committed by Del- 
rio and Gregory de Valentia. ' ,25T 

Two other Jesuits, George Scherer and Jeremias 
Drexelius, took the opposite side and urged the secular 
authorities to persecute witches. . . . Scherer (1583) 
brings demoniacal possession into close connection 
with witchcraft, and gives an example of the exorcis- 
ing of a possessed girl whose grandmother was a 
witch. The statements of the witch at the questioning 
(torture) and on the rack, are for Scherer conclusive 
evidence of her guilt. He advises the magistrate of 
Vienna to proceed against all sorceresses with suitable 
punishment. 258 This exhortation to the persecution of 
witches did not meet with the approval of the General of 
the Society, Claudius Aquaviva, who wrote to the prov- 
inces of the Society as follows: "Even if it is allowable 
to give the general advice as to the adoption of measures 
against poisoning which in that district is said to be 
widespread, and also to admonish witches, that they are in 
duty bound when interrogated, to name their accomplices, 
nevertheless the Fathers must not mix themselves in the 
witch-trials and must not insist on the punishment of 
witches; they must have nothing to do with exorcising 
them, to prevent them recanting their statements; for 
these things do not concern us." 259 

Drexelius treats of witchcraft in a work on Alms- 
giving, published in 1637, in which he gives as a reason 
for bestowing alms the fact that it protects from witch- 
craft. 260 He writes, "who could dare accuse of error 
and injustice the judges, who, with fire and sword, pro- 
ceed against this pest (witchcraft) ? Yet there are 
Christians unworthy of the name, who oppose with 
might and main the extirpation of this vice, lest per- 
haps, they say, the innocent might suffer. 0, ye enemies 

2B7 Schwickerath, 509. 
258 Duhr, op. cit., 28. 
259 Id„ 32. 
260 Id., 70. 



82 ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS, 1200-1700 A. D. 

of the Divine honor ! Does not the law of God command, 
' You shall not suffer wizards to live ? ' And I cry out as 
loud as I can, at the divine bidding, to bishops, princes 
and kings ; you shall not suffer witches to live. Extir- 
pate this pest with fire and sword. \ ,261 

In the annual reports of the Jesuits there is frequent 
mention of trials of witches, and sorceresses and of the 
spiritual consolation which the Fathers administered to 
the victims ; frequent instances are cited of how they led 
back into the right way women or men who, under demoni- 
acal influence, had committed dreadful crimes ; but there 
is not a single instance of their having brought anyone 
before the court, or given any encouragement to witch- 
burning. 262 

The clerical instruction books of this period show how 
deeply the belief in witches, in the transformation of 
human beings into wolves, in changelings bred of wicked 
women by the devil, was rooted among the people ; espe- 
cially is this true of Germany. In a confession manual of 
1474, the penitent is asked the following questions : Have 
you practised magic on any, or let yourself be practised 
upon; bewitched anyone or let yourself be bewitched? 
Have you superstitiously believed in the weather-witches 
or in the changing of children! Have you bought any 
wind from a sorceress? 263 In another book of the same 
period, occurs this question: "Have you believed that 
women can change themselves into cats, monkeys, and 
other animals and fly up through the air and suck the 
blood out of children ? 264 

Stephen Lanzkranna, provost of St. Dorothy's in 
Vienna, in his Himmelstrasse of 1484, classed among 
the greatest sins, belief in women who rode about at night, 
night-mares, were-wolves and other such heathenish im- 
postures. He says, ' ' Such like idiotic opinions and false 

261 Duhr, op. cit, 70. 
262 Cited by Duhr, 73. 
283 Janssen, op. cit VIII, 542. 
264 Id., VIII, 541. 



ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS, 1200-1700 A. D. 83 

inventions and superstitions are so plentiful, even alas, 
among those who call themselves Christians and want to 
be regarded as Christians, although in reality they are 
more heathen than Christian. ' ,265 

A Lubeck confession book, Das Licht der Seele of 
1484, formulates the following questions: "Have you 
done harm to anyone with the devilish art! Have you 
practised witchcraft with the Holy Sacraments? Have 
you believed that people can become werewolves'? Have 
you believed that people fly at night with body and soul 
into distant lands? Have you believed that people come 
at night and crush others in their sleep? Let each one 
search his own conscience and make a clean breast to his 
father confessor." 266 A confession manual of 1485 asks 
the following: "Have you believed that the Nightmare 
(an old woman called Drude) has sat on you or that you 
have ridden on an oven fork to the Blocksberg (where the 
Sabbats were held) ? These things are grave mortal sins 
and whoever dies in them brings his soul into everlast- 
ing damnation. ' ,267 

There were other penitentials of this period, written 
mainly for the instruction of confessors and based on the 
decrees of Gratian and Gregory IX, as well as the Cor- 
rector of Burchard. It is not the intention of the writer to 
take them up in detail as they varied but little and from a 
consideration of one or two the main points of all may be 
judged. The "Canones poenitentiales Astesani," com- 
posed probably in 1444, contains a number of directions 
for the guidance of confessors. Among the various sins 
worthy of penance, is sacrilege, under which are found 
magic practices ; thus Canon 34 says that those who pur- 
ify (in the pagan sense, lustrat) the house, with magic 
arts and incantations shall do five years' penance. 263 



265 Janssen, VIII, 541 seqq. 
266 Ibid. 
MT Ibid. 

268 Schmitz, op. cit., 805: "Qui lustrat domum suam cum magicis 
artibus et incantationibus V annis peniteat." 



84 ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS, 1200-1700 A. D. 

Whoever makes use of sorcery, let him do forty days' 
penance. 269 The Poenitentiale Mediolamnse goes more 
into detail; thus a penance of ten years is decreed 
for those who sacrifice to the demons ; 270 for one who in- 
vokes the devil, seven years ' penance ; 271 for a woman who 
bewitches others, one year; for those who consult magi- 
cians, five years '. 272 Those who produce tempests shall do 
seven years, three of which shall be on bread and water. 273 
For those who make use of ligatures, the penance shall 
be for two years. 274 



269 Ibid. 

278 Schmitz, op. cit., 809. 

271 Id., 810. 

272 Ibid. 

273 Id., 811. 

274 Id. 









CHAPTEE VII 

THE CHUECH, 1200-1700 

Popes and Councils 

Down to the thirteenth century, and after civil legisla- 
tion against witches sanctioned death by fire, the Church 
only approved of disciplinary punishments for these of- 
fenders and their exclusion from its communion. But 
things assumed a different shape after the belief in witch- 
craft was strengthened by the reappearance of the Gnos- 
tic-Manichaean sects, which taught that there were two 
conflicting, equally powerful, coeternal principles, a good 
principle and a bad principle, the latter being creator and 
ruler of the material universe. Allied with these heretics 
were the Cathari, Albigenses, Waldenses, Luciferians, all 
of whom were accused of dreadful crimes, especially that 
of invoking the devil by certain prayers, as a result of 
which he visited their assemblies and led them into all 
imaginable vices. Hansen says, "It is unmistakable how 
much encouragement was given to beliefs in demoniacal 
influences and the intercourse possible between human 
beings and demons by Catharism, in consequence of its 
dualistic philosophy. f ,275 The "black death' ' which 
devastated Europe in the fourteenth century was re- 
garded as a work of the diabolical powers and in many 
cases, the emotion aroused by the calamity, amounted to 
frenzy. In some parts of Europe, notably Germany, the 
Flagellants, thousands in number, traversed the country 
and proclaimed in the midst of their wild dances, the 
power of Satan. All of these factors combined to bring 
the question of witchcraft more forcibly before the 
Church, with the result that we find many references to 
the practice in Papal Bulls and letters and in conciliar 
decrees. At the same time the punishments inflicted be- 



275 Hansen, Zauberwahn, 240 

85 



86 THE CHURCH. 1200-1700 A. D. 

came more severe and when the Inquisition was estab- 
lished, witchcraft as well as heresy, became one of the 
common charges against the objects of the inquisitorial 
process. With the fifteenth century came a notable in- 
crease in witch-persecution, and in that and the succeed- 
ing century, while the great strife between Catholicism 
and Luther anism was taking place, the number of those 
accused of communication with the devil, was greater 
than in all the preceding centuries. This was due, in 
great part, to the teaching of some of the reformers, 
which added fuel to the persecution. In Luther's cate- 
chism, the power attributed to the devil over man's body 
and soul, life and property, amounts almost to omnipo- 
tence. The friends and followers of Luther shared these 
views and it was soon noticed that the preachers spoke 
more of the devil than of Christ, and that young and old 
believed more in the devil than in God and His holy 
Gospel. 

When we come to investigate the action of the Popes 
during this period from 1200-1700 we find that a number 
of them issued decrees treating of the reality of magic and 
witchcraft. In 1258 and 1260 Pope Alexander IV wrote 
to the Franciscan and Dominican inquisitors that they 
were to leave the punishment of sorcerers to the secular 
judges, unless there was manifest heresy. "Cum negotium 
fidei, quod summe privilegiatum existit, per occupationes 
alias non debeat impediri, inquisitores ipsi de iis, nisi 
manif este haeresim saperent, ratione huiusmodi officii sibi 
commissi se nullatenus intromittant, sed eos relinquant 
suis iudicibus poena debita castigandos." 276 

In 1303 Boniface VIII ordered an investigation into 
the accusation made against Walter, bishop of Coventry 
and Lichfield, treasurer of Edward I, that the said bishop 
had paid homage to the devil. 277 It is well to note that 
Edward I intervened in his behalf and it was finally 

276 Hansen, Quellen, 1. 
277 Hansen, op. cit, 2. 



THE CHURCH, 1200-1700 A. D. 87 

proved that the report emanated from his enemies, so the 
bishop was allowed to purge himself with thirty-seven 
compurgators. 

The growing importance of witchcraft and sorcery in 
popular belief, received a new impetus from the decrees 
of Pope John XXII. In 1318 he wrote to Bishop Barthol- 
omew of Frejus and Prior Peter Text oris in the diocese 
of Eodez, commissioning them to make an investigation 
concerning some clerics and laics who were practising 
necromancy and allied arts, "se nigromancie, geomancie 
et aliarum magic arum artium moliminibus implicarunt 
et implicant, scripta et libros habentes huiusmodi artium, 
que quidem, cum sint artes demonum ex quadam pestifera 
sociate hominum et angelorum exorte etc. ' ,288 If these per- 
sons prove rebellious, they are to be compelled under 
ecclesiastical censure to give up their evil practices. Two 
years later, this same Pope had letters sent out by the 
Cardinal of Sancta Sabina concerning the homage ren- 
dered by some people to the devil, the making of a pact 
with Satan, the abuse by witches of the Sacraments and 
Sacramentals. The letters order the bishops to inquire 
about those who sacrifice to demons, or adore them, or 
make a pact either tacit or expressed with them, or those 
who abuse the sacrament of baptism by baptizing images 
fashioned of wax, as well as those who abuse the sacra- 
ment of the Eucharist. Such persons are to be punished 
according to the canons concerning heresy. 279 In the Bull 



278 Hansen, op. cit, 3. 

27e "Dominus Iohannes . . . vult ordinat vobisque committit, quod 
auctoritate sua contra eos, qui demonibus immolant vel ipsos adorant 
aut homagium ipsis faciunt, dando eis in signum cartam scriptam 
seu aliud quodcumque, vel qui expressa pacta obligatoria faciunt cum 
eisdem aut qui operantur vel operari procurant quamcumque ymagi- 
nem vel quodcumque aliud ad demonem alligandum seu cum demonum 
invocatione ad quodcumque maleficium perpetrandum aut qui Sacra- 
mento babtismatis abutendo ymaginem de cera seu de re alia factam 
babtizant sive faciunt babtizari seu alias cum invocatione demonum 
ipsam fabricant . . . item de sortilegis et maleficis, qui Sacra- 
mento eucharistie . . . et aliis sacramentis ecclesie . . . abu- 
tuntur, possitis inquirere et alias procedere contra ipsos, modis tamen 
servatis, qui de procedendo cum prelatis in facto heresis vobis a 
canonibus sunt prefixi." 



88 THE CHURCH, 1200-1700 A. D. 

of 1326 lie spoke again of those who made a pact with the 
devil, adored him, fabricated images, imprisoned demons 
in rings or mirrors and threatened with the penalties at- 
tached to heresy, all who were guilty and who did not re- 
form within eight days. 280 In 1330 the same Pope sent a 
decree to the Archbishops of Narbonne and Toulouse, to 
their suffragans and to the inquisitors of Carcassonne 
and Toulouse, removing sorcery from the jurisdiction 
of the Inquisition. 281 The next year he ordered Bishop 
Hugo of Paris, on the ground of a complaint preferred by 
King Philip VI of France, to make an investigation con- 
cerning certain clerics and laics who had attempted to 
use witchcraft against the king and his companions. 
"Viros maleficos humani generis quodammodo inimicos 
eo. ferventius persequi debet auctoritas presidentis, quo 
periculosius saluti publice parantes insidias etiam pul- 
sare non metuunt occultis maleficiis regiam dignitatem 
. . . tibi per dictum regem nominandas (i.e., personas) 
super quibusdam eorum maleficiis et excessibus, que ad- 
versus ipsius regis et curie sue personas commisisse 
dicuntur, crimen lese maiestatis in eundem regem prop- 
terea perpetrando . . . inquirendi . . . procedendi 
. . . faciendi . . . quicquid iusticia suadebit, necnon 
compescendi . . . plenam et liberam tenore presen- 
tium concedimus f acultatem. ' ,282 

Benedict XII in 1336 ordered Bishop William of Paris 
and William of Carcassonne to correct and punish witches 
and sorcerers, 283 mentioning by name some who had been 
accused of such practices. From an explanation by the 
Papal Court, of the payment of a copyist during a trial 
for sorcery, we get an idea of the prevalence of magic 
among all classes of people. In the paper referred to are 
mentioned nine persons, among them a rector of a church, 
a Brother, a cleric, and several women, all accused of 

280 BulIarium, IV, 316. 
281 Hansen, op. cit, 6. 
282 Id., 7. 
288 Id., 8. 



THE CHURCH, 1200-1700 A. D. 89 

witchcraft. 284 In 1336 also, Benedict wrote to Count Gas- 
ton de Foix, commanding him to send two men suspected 
of witchcraft to the Papal Court for trial. 285 The next year 
this pope wrote to William Lombard of Mirepoix urging 
him to investigate the case of two men held in the papal 
prisons on the charge of sorcery. 286 A document, dated a 
few months later, gives the cost for the maintenance of 
the above-mentioned prisoners, a priest and a layman, 
who, for the invocation of demons and for the practice of 
witchcraft, had been imprisoned 150 days. 287 In June, 
1337, Benedict wrote to the Dean Arnaldus of St. Paul, in 
the diocese of Alet, and to the Archdeacon Peter of Luna, 
in the diocese of Beziers, commanding them to investigate 
the case of clerics and a laic of Beziers, who had accused 
their bishop, William, of attempting to kill Pope John 
XXII by means of a magic waxen image, or figurine. 288 
The case was later dismissed as sufficient proof was not 
forthcoming. In 1338 the same Pope wrote to William 
Lombard in the diocese of Frejus, concerning two women 
who had given themselves to the devil and had committed 
many of the crimes attributed to witches. These women 
were to be punished as justice required, yet justice should 
be tempered with mercy, "Nos igitur talia et similia extir- 
pari de finibus fidelium dictasque mulieres de tantis cor- 
rigi facinoribus lima iusticie cupientes, discretioni tue 
. . . punire ac corrigere penitentiasque ipsis imponere 
studeas, sicut iusticia exegerit, cum temperamento tamen 
misericordie, prout earum contritio meruerit et rationi 
convenire cognoveris, salutares." 289 That monks and 
clerics also were not free from the practices of the age, 
can be gathered from Benedict's letter to Durandus, ab- 
bot of the Cistercian monastery of Bolbona, concerning 
some of his monks who sought by magic means, especially 

284 Hansen, op. cit., 8, 9. 

28s Ibid. 

2B6 Id., 10, 11. 

2 "Ibid. 

288 Ibid. 

289 Ibid., 13, 14. 



90 THE CHURCH, 1200-1700 A. D. 

by waxen images, to find a hidden treasure. For this 
they were to be severely punished. 290 

Pope Gregory XI, in 1374 wrote to the Dominican 
James de Morerio, inquisitor in France, empowering him 
to attempt to hinder by means of the Church's censure, 
those who offered sacrifice to the devil. 291 Alexander V 
in 1409 wrote to the Franciscan Pontius Fougeyron, that 
witches, diviners and invokers of demons should be pun- 
ished and that the State might be called in, if necessary, 
"invocato ad hoc, si opus fuerit, auxilio brachii 
secularis." 292 

Pope Eugenius IV in 1434 wrote to the same Pontius, 
that in many regions there were to be found, besides 
dogmatic heretics, "many Christians given over to witch- 
craft, divination, invocation of demons, conjurations, su- 
perstitions, use of prohibited arts, by whom simple Chris- 
tians are perverted. ' ' 293 ' ' These erring ones are to be led 
back to the Church." "Oviculas . . . errantes . . . 
ad ovile dominicum reducere." Three years later, this 
same pope wrote to all the inquisitors concerning certain 
people who immolated to demons, and by their aid per- 
formed many marvels. ' ' Ad nostrum non sine gravi men- 
tis amaritudine pervenit auditum, quod plerosque 
Christi sanguine mercatos adeo tenebrarum princeps, ut 
eos suorum damnationis lapsusque participes efficiat, eius 
infascinavit astutiis, quod ipsi detestabiles illius suorum- 
que satellitum suasus et illusiones coecitate noxia sec- 
tantes, demonibus immolant, eos adorant, ab ipsis res- 
ponsa prestolantur et acceptant, illis homagium faciunt 
et in signum desuper chartam scriptam (the pact) vel 
quid aliud tradunt, cum ipsis obligatoria, ut solo verbo, 
tactu vel signo maleficia, quibus velint, illis inferant 
sive tollant, infirmitates sanent, aeris intemperiem pro- 
vocent, et super aliis nefandis pacta firmant." "Such 

290 Hansen, op. cit, 14-17. 

291 Ibid 

292 Ibid. 

293 Ibid. 



THE CHURCH, 1200-1700 A. D. 91 

persons are to be imprisoned, to incur ecclesiastical cen- 
ture and, if necessary, to be handed over to the secular 
power." 294 In 1440, writing against the anti-pope, Felix 
V, Eugenius IV spoke of him as the leader of unfortunate 
men and women given over to sorcery and seduced by the 
devil; " these people," he says, "are commonly called 
'stregule' or 'stregones' (striga) or Vaudois. ' ,295 The 
same pope wrote to the Inquisitor of Carcassonne in 
1445 directing him to seek out those who gave themselves 
to magic practices. 296 Pope Calixtus III in 1457 wrote 
to his nuncio, Bernard of Bosco, that he had heard with 
astonishment that in the diocese of Brescia there were 
some ecclesiastics who were teaching falsely concerning 
Jesus Christ and His blessed Mother, also perverting the 
simple people by teaching them magic arts ; these ecclesi- 
astics were to be diligently sought out and severely 
punished. 297 

In 1459 Pius II called the attention of the Abbot of 
Treguier to the existence of magic practices in Brittany 
and gave him papal authority for their suppression. 29 * 
In 1473 Sixtus IV desired the Vicar general of Bologna to 
make a report concerning a Carmelite who had taught 
that it was not heretical to expect an answer from the 
devil. 299 The same pope, five years later forbade the 
manufacture and blessing as well as the sale "of pieces 
of wax, with the figure of a lamb commonly called the 
Agnus Dei ; ' ' they were to be reserved especially for the 
Pope. 300 In 1483 Sixtus sent word to the Dominicans at 
Schlettstadt, that he had given one of his servitors who 
had proved himself so zealous in dealing with the hereti- 



29 *Hansen, Quellen, 17. 

2e5 Id., 18. 

296 Id., 19. 

297 Id., 19. 

298 Id., 20. 

299 Id., 21. 

300 Id., 21. The reason for this restriction regarding the Agnus Dei 
was because they might more easily furnish material for necromantic 
practices, if allowed to be too widely disseminated. 



92 THE CHURCH, 1200-1700 A. D. 

cal witches of Germany, an indulgence of three years and 
also pecuniary aid. 301 

On the strength of the reports which reached him from 
Germany, Pope Innocent VIII in 1484, issued his famous 
Bull, i i Summis desiderantes af£ ectibus, ' ' in which he said 
that he had learned that in some parts of south Germany, 
as also in the provinces, towns, lands, districts, and 
bishoprics of Mayence, Cologne, Treves, Salzburg and 
Bremen, large numbers of people of both sexes, were fall- 
ing away from the Catholic faith, entering into alliances 
with devils and by their enchantments, ill-wishings and 
other unworthy acts of sorcery, causing great injury of all 
kinds to human beings and to animals. 302 The Bull con- 
tinues, " although the two Dominicans and professors of 
theology, Henry Institor in south Germany and James 
Sprenger in some parts of the Ehine-land, had been ap- 
pointed by papal authority as inquisitors of heretical 
wickedness, nevertheless, certain clergyman and laymen 
in those places had asserted that because in the letters 
appointing the said inquisitors the names of those dio- 
ceses and towns and the names of the persons and their 
crimes had not been expressly mentioned, the inquisitors 
dared not exercise their office or arrest and punish the 
people.' ' Accordingly strict orders are now issued that 
both inquisitors should exercise the authority of their 
office unhindered, against persons of every rank. For 
protection against sorcery they were to explain the Word 



301 Hansen, op. cit, 22. 

30? Bullarium, V, 296: "Quamplures utriusque sexus personae, pro- 
priae salutis immemores et a fide catholica deviantes, cum daemoni- 
bus incubis et succubis abuti ac suis incantationibus, carminibus et 
coniurationibus aliisque nefandis superstitiis et sortilegiis, excessibus, 
criminibus et delictis mulierum partus, animalium foetus, terrae 
fruges, vinearum uvas et arborum fructus necnon homines, mulieres, 
iumenta, pecora, pecudes et alia diversorum generum animalia, . . . 
perire, suffocari et extingui facere et procurare . . . fidem praeterea 
ipsam, quam in sacri susceptione baptismi susceperunt, ore sacrilego 
abnegare, aliaque quamplurima nefanda, excessus et crimina, insti- 
gante humani generis inimico, committere et perpetrare non veren- 
tur, in animarum suarum periculum, divinae maiestatis offensam ac 
perniciosum exemplum ac scandalum plurimorum." 



THE CHURCH, 1200-1700 A. D. 93 

of God in all parish churches, and to use all means of 
instructing the people. The Pope called especially on the 
Bishop of Strasburg to protect the inquisitors and to 
inflict the most severe penalties on all those who opposed 
them and, if necessary, he was to call in the help of the 
secular power. 303 

This Papal Bull contains no dogmatic decision con- 
cerning witchcraft. The Pope referred historically only, 
to the different horrible incidents which were reported to 
him and thus the Bull settles nothing in detail, either re- 
garding the objective effect produced by the will of the 
sorcerer, or the manner in which it might show itself. 
The Bull, also, introduced nothing new. The two inquisi- 
tors "in respect of the crime of witchcraft, ' ' were given 
plenary power more narrowly defined, and if the secular 
courts pronounced sentence of death against those offend- 
ers handed over to them, as incorrigible, by the ecclesias- 
tical court this punishment was not the result of the Bull, 
for 200 years before the civil law, the Sachenspiegel, had 
decreed that sorcerers and witches should be put to death 
by fire. Neither can this Bull be accepted as a cause of 
the barbarities which in the following centuries were com- 
mitted in connection with the persecution and punishment 
of witches. 304 The Bull, however, certainly did encourage 
the punishment of witches in so far as it spurred the in- 
quisitors on to greater zeal in their proceedings. Duhr 
says, "The Bull by no means set forth a doctrine which 
it is obligatory to accept. It must be allowed that the 
Pope was badly informed by credulous and uncritical 
inquisitors and helped on the cause of injustice by his 
Bull, the witch-burners being able to appeal to papal 
authority. German bishops ought to have enlightened 
the Holy See on the true character of the trials, but most 
of the bishops were infected with the witch-superstition, 
and to some extent, as secular rulers, were also partici- 



303 Bullarium, V, 296; Hansen, Zauberwahn, 467, 468. 
804 Janssen, VIII, 551 seqq. 



94 THE CHURCH, 1200-1700 A. D. 

pators in the burning of witches. 305 According to Hansen, 
the importance of the witch-bull lies less in its contents, 
which offer nothing new, than in the immense circulation 
which it gained through the press, whereas the older mis- 
sives had been limited to a small circle. 306 

As a result of the Bull, one of the inquisitors, Institor, 
drew up a memorandum of instructions as to the manner 
of procedure in witch-trials : he declared denial of the 
existence of witchcraft to be heresy, and mentioned as 
the chief crimes of witches : production of storms, distur- 
bance of the human understanding even to insanity, the 
rousing of hatred and love, the hindrance of fecundity in 
human beings and animals, and even the taking of life. 
On all these points the pastors were to instruct the people 
and admonish every one to give information concerning 
persons suspected of witchcraft. Within a year after the 
publication of the Bull and the memorandum, Institor had 
been notified of fifty suspected persons, of whom all but 
two were women. 307 In 1485 Innocent wrote to Archduke 
Sigmund of Austria and Abbot John of Weingarten 
praising them for the efficient aid given to the inquisitors 
Institor and Sprenger in their attempts to annihilate 
witchcraft and sorcery. The next year this pope in- 
formed the Bishop of Brescia that all those guilty of the 
crimes of witchcraft were ipso facto excommunicated. 308 

Alexander VI in 1500 wrote to the Prior of Kloster- 
neuburg and to the Inquisitor Institor, concerning the 
spread of witchcraft in Bohemia and Moravia; he bade 
them preach against these diabolical arts and, if neces- 
sary, call in the secular power. 309 The next year Alex- 
ander gave full power to the Dominican inquisitor in 
Lombardy, Angelo of Verona, to punish those of both 
sexes, who were given to the diabolic art of witchcraft. 310 

305 Duhr, op. cit., 16. 
308 Hansen, Zauberwahn, 469 ff. 
307 Hansen, Quellen, 28, 29. 
S08 Hansen, op. cit., 28. 
S09 Ibid. 
3,0 Id., 31. 



THE CHURCH, 1200-1700 A. D. 95 

Julius II between 1503-1513 wrote to the inquisitor of 
Cremona, George of Casali, ordering him despite the 
opposition of priests and people, to be zealous in his work 
of hunting out persons of both sexes who abused the Sac- 
raments, accepted the devil as their lord and master, 
rendering obedience to him; who did injury to animals, 
who destroyed. the fruits of the earth and "aliaque quam- 
plurima nefanda excessus et crimina eodem diabolo in- 
stigante committentes." 311 In 1521 Leo X brought for- 
ward a protest against the interference of the Venetian 
senators in the procedure of the inquisitors of Brescia 
and Bergamo against sorcerers. The Pope ordered 
the inquisitors to make use of excommunication and 
interdict. 312 

Hadrian VI in 1523 gave the Dominican inquisitor of 
Como, Modestus Vincentinus, the right to proceed against 
witches and sorcerers, as also did Clement VII, in 1524 to 
the governor of Bologna. In 1526 the same pope directed 
the Dean and canons of Sion to act in the punishment of 
heresy and sorcery. 313 

Two later bulls have some reference to the current 
superstition ; in 1586 Sixtus V decreed that not only those 
who made use of magic arts should be punished, but also 
those who read any books dealing with such practices. 
"Prohibentes omnes et singulos libros opera, etc., . . . 
astrologiae, geomanticie, etc., artes magicae, aut in quibus 
sortilegia, veneficia, auguria continentur. ' m4 The last 
papal ordinance against witchcraft was issued by Gre- 
gory XV; this was the Bull Omnipotentis Dei, 1623. 
The Bull lessened the former punishments and decreed 
that the death penalty should be inflicted only upon those 
proved to have entered into a compact with the devil and 
to have committed homicide with his assistance. 



'"Hansen, op. cit, 32. 
812 Bullarium, VI, 24. 
sl8 Hansen, op. cit., 37. 
'"Bullarium, VIII, 646. 



96 THE CHURCH, 1200-1700 A. D. 

As a general thing Church Councils during the period 
under discussion did not formulate many decrees directly 
against witchcraft. In 1212 the Council of Paris declared 
that clerics or monks who used spells should be degraded 
"clerici vel monaehi, qui conjurationem fecerint, gradu 
excidant." 315 The synods of Eouen (1231), Tours (1236), 
Le Mans (1238), Liege and Carcassonne (1272), Eavenna 
and Cologne (1280) were mainly occupied with the sinful 
character of witchcraft and declared it to be a sin which 
was reserved to the bishop for absolution. 316 The coun- 
cils of Nantes (1264), Utrecht, Constance, the provincial 
councils of Mainz (1261), Beziers and Nogaret (1290), 
Venice (1296), decreed the penalty of excommunication 
for laics devoted to the practice of magic, and for priests, 
suspension. 317 Among the deeds worthy of such punish- 
ment were included witchcraft, incantations, divination, 
invocation of demons, killing of children by magic arts, as 
well as the abuse of the Holy Eucharist or one of the other 
Sacraments of the Church for some devilish purpose. 318 
The council of Grado (1296) declared that no one should 
make use of magic arts to procure the love of another ; it 
also decreed excommunication for soothsayers and 
witches. 319 Besides excommunication other punishments 
were inflicted; thus the council of Valence (1248) decreed 
that, with the Pope's consent, in the Church provinces of 
Narbonne, Vienne, Aries and Aix as well as in fifteen 
other dioceses, witches and sorcerers should be delivered 
to the bishop and if they proved unrepentant, they were 
to be imprisoned or otherwise punished at the discretion 
of the bishop. "Item de sacrilegis et sortiariis, quocum- 
que nomine censeantur, et specialiter de his, qui magistri 
sunt vel doctores in opere tarn damnoso, statuimus quod, 



81B Mansi, XXII, 830. 

314 Mansi, XXIII, 213, 477; XXIV, 363; Hefele, V, 894, 938, 1050; 
VI, 187. 

817 Mansi, VI, XXIV, 1066, 1163; Hefele, VI, 335. 
318 Hefele, VI, 206, 231. 
316 Hefele, VI, 368. 



THE CHURCH, 1200-1700 A. D. 97 

si inventi fuerint, reddantur suo episcopo, et si moniti 
non resipuerint, immurentur vel ad arbitrium episcopi 
puniantur. ' ,320 

Two provincial councils held in 1310 at Mainz and 
Trier declared all practitioners of magic excommuni- 
cate. 321 The latter council also stated that no woman must 
give out that she rode at night with Diana or Herodias, 
nor must any one use the Pater Noster and the Creed for 
magic formulae. 322 The synod of Bergamo (1311) de- 
creed excommunication for practitioners of witchcraft, 
while that of Eouen (1321) declared that the misuse of the 
Sacraments for purposes of witchcraft, should be pun- 
ished by excommunication. 323 The general synod called 
by the Cardinal legate, William of Valladolid in 1322, 324 
and the diocesan synods of Alcala and Salamanca, 1335, 
declared excommunicate not only all practitioners of 
witchcraft but also those who had recourse to them. 325 
A council at Eouen (1335) summoned by Pope Benedict 
XII, declared that all soothsayers and witches and all 
those who sought their aid were ipso facto excommuni- 
cated. 320 The Norwegian synod of Tonsberg (1336) 
warned the faithful against witchcraft and poisoning and 
punished with excommunication those who made use of 
soothsaying and witchcraft. 327 In 1349 Archbishop Ar- 
nest summoned a provincial council at Prague, which 
ordered all pastors to warn their congregations that all 
magic practices would incur the penalty of excommunica- 
tion; notwithstanding this admonition, a second council 
at Prague, 1407, was forced to lament the toleration of 
witchcraft, by many pastors. * ' Multi sortilegi, in diversis 
parochiis commorantur et publice tolerantur per pleba- 



S20 Mansi, XXIII, 769. 
S21 Id., XXV, 247, 297. 
322 Hefele, VI, 492. 
323 Mansi, XXV, 475. 
32 *Hefele, VI, 609. 
S25 Mansi, XXV, 1047. 
828 Hefele, VI, 643. 
S27 Ibid. 



98 THE CHURCH, 1200-1700 A. D. 

nos. . . . Mandatur plebanis universis et singulis, qua- 
tenus tales sortilegos et sortilegas non tolerent ulterius 
in parochiis eorum, sed corrigant et expellant tales, pro 
poenitentia peragenda ad snperiorum audientiam remit- 
tant." 328 According to the synod of Magdeburg (1390) 
witches were to be severely punished. 329 

In the fifteenth century we find the idea of magic still 
all pervading. In Norway, the synod of Oslo (Opsloe, 
1436) forbade magic. The synods of Freising (1440 and 
1480), Lisieux (1456), Upsala (1443-48), Eichstatt (1453) 
and Salzburg (1456) decreed excommunication for 
witches and soothsayers, also for all who used the Sacra- 
ments in their unlawful practice. 330 A synod of Rouen 
(1445) provided a more severe punishment than excom- 
munication, it decreed that all who besought the devil's 
aid should wear a badge of shame, but if they abjured 
they could be released by the bishop after they had per- 
formed a suitable penance; if they relapsed into their 
evil ways, clerics were to be degraded and perpetually 
imprisoned, laics were to be abandoned to the secular 
arm. 331 This same synod condemned all books and tracts 
on magic. 332 A synod at Mantua (1460) punished all who 
practiced magic arts. 333 By the decrees of the council of 
Seville (1512) magicians and soothsayers were to be pun- 
ished by excommunication and were forced to pay a cer- 
tain amount of gold ; if they repeated the offense, infamy 
and exile were to be their portion. 334 The council of 
Florence (1517-18) declared that at the visitation of dio- 
ceses punishment should be meted out to those who used 
magic, sorcery, and divination. The synod of Regensburg 
(1527) decreed that clerics who gave themselves to sor- 
cery, magic, and soothsaying, which the Holy Scriptures 



328 Mansi, XXVI, 75; Hefele, VI, 688. 
S29 Hefele, VI, 972. 
330 Id., VIII, 16, 7, 21, 51. 
331 Id., VIII, 9. 

332 Id 

833 Id., 123. 
834 Id., 547. 



THE CHURCH, 1200-1700 A. D. 99 

and the writings of the Fathers forbade, should be pun- 
ished and if they proved obstinate, they were to be de- 
posed and imprisoned in a monastery. 335 



335 Hefele, IX, 557. 



CHAPTER VIII 

INQUISITION AND PERSECUTION OF WITCHES 

A new epoch in the history of witch-persecution began 
when sorcery and magic were put on a par with heresy 
and thus came under the jurisdiction of the Inquisition. 
By this term is usually meant a special ecclesiastical insti- 
tution for combating or suppressing heresy. Its charac- 
teristic .mark is the bestowal on certain men, of judicial 
power in matters of faith, and this by supreme ecclesias- 
tical authority. 336 This tribunal of the Inquisition is a 
phase in the growth of ecclesiastical legislation, whose 
distinctive traits can be best understood by a study of the 
conditions amid which it grew up ; what these conditions 
were may be seen by the following brief survey. We have 
learned from the conciliar and papal decrees of the first 
twelve centuries, from the opinions of ecclesiastical 
writers and from the penitentials of the various countries, 
that the usual penalties inflicted for the practice of magic 
and witchcraft, were fasting, almsgiving, scourging, in- 
carceration for a limited period or for life. 337 The hereti- 
cal tendency of witchcraft during these ages, was not fully 
established and even had it been the penalties would not 
have been more severe, for the Christians of the first, 
three centuries, following St. Paul's teaching, 338 deemed 
exclusion from the Church's communion, sufficient pun- 
ishment for heresy. 339 Therefore, they rejected abso- 
lutely the punishment by death and established the doc- 
trine, "Ecclesia abhorret a sanguine." 340 Origen reply- 
ing to Celsus explained that one must distinguish be- 
tween the law which the Jews received from Moses and 



S36 Blotzer, Cath. Ency., VIII, art. Inquisition. 
•"Chapters III, IV. 
,88 I Tim. I, 20; Tit. Ill, 10. 

* S9 Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, Tertullian adrer- 
sus Gnosticoe, Cap. II. 

,40 Vacandard, L.' Inquisition, 8. 

100 



INQUISITION AND PERSECUTION OF WITCHES 101 

that given to the Christians by Christ, the former was 
binding on the Jews, the latter on Christians. Jewish 
Christians, if sincere, were no longer at liberty to kill 
their enemies or to bnrn and stone violators of the Chris- 
tian law. 341 St. Cyprian of Carthage, in the midst of 
schismatics, put aside the sanction of the Old Testament, 
which punished with death any rebellion against the 
priesthood, and wrote, "Religion being now spiritual, its 
sanctions take on the same character, and excommunica- 
tion replaces the death of the body. 342 Lactantius wrote 
in 308, that ' ' Religion, being a matter of the will, cannot 
be forced on anyone; in this matter it is better to em- 
ploy words than blows. . . . There is no connection 
between truth and violence, between justice and cruelty. 
It is true that nothing is so important as religion and one 
must defend it at any cost. ... If you attempt to defend 
it with bloodshed and torture, what you do is not defence, 
but desecration and insult. For nothing is so intrinsically 
a matter of free will as religion. ' ,343 The Christian teach- 
ers of the first three centuries, then, insisted on complete 
religious liberty; they urged the principle that religion 
could not be forced on others — a principle always adhered 
to by the Church in her dealings with the unbaptized — but, 
when comparing the Mosaic Law and the Christian relig- 
ion, they taught that the latter was content with a spirit- 
ual punishment of heretics, while Judaism proceeded 
necessarily against its dissidents with torture and 
death. 344 

Constantine had some control over the temporal wel- 
fare of the Church ; his imperial successors soon began to 
regard themselves as masters of the temporal and ma- 
terial conditions of the Church, while at the same time 
they were persuaded that the first concern of imperial 



341 0rigen, Contra Celsum, VII, 26. 
342 Cyprian, Ep. LXII, ad. Pomponium, n. 4. 
343 Lactantius, De Divinis Institutionibus, V, cap. XX. 
344 Blotzer, Cath. Ency., VIII, art. Inquisition. 



102 INQUISITION AND PERSECUTION OF WITCHES 

authority was the protection of religion, so, with terrible 
regularity they issued many penal edicts against here- 
tics. 345 All heretics were affected by this legislation, and 
in various ways, by exile, confiscation of property, or 
death. A law of 407, aimed at the Donatists, declared 
they ought to be regarded in the same class as transgres- 
sors against the sacred majesty of the emperor, a con- 
cept to which was reserved in later times a very moment- 
ous role. 346 The death penalty, however, was reserved for 
certain Manichaean sects. 347 

At the close of the fourth century and during the 
fifth, Manichaeism, Donatism and Priscillianism were the 
most prominent heresies, but the Church refused to in- 
voke the civil power against them. Priscillian, Bishop of 
Avila, leader of the sect which bears his name, was ac- 
cused of heresy and sorcery, and was found guilty by 
several councils. He seems to have been refused a hear- 
ing by St. Ambrose of Milan, and at length he appealed to 
the Emperor Maximus, who condemned him to death. St. 
Martin of Tours, then at Trier, endeavored to obtain the 
abandonment of the accusation since ecclesiastical depo- 
sition by the bishops was deemed sufficient punishment. 
The sentence of death was carried out, however, and 
when the execution was over, St. Martin strongly blamed 
the executioners and the emperor, and even for a long 
time refused to hold any communication with the bishops 
who had been responsible in any way for Priscillian 's 
death. 348 Priscillianism did not disappear with the death 
of its founder, but spread rapidly and by the adoption of 
Manichaeism, became a great public menace. This ac- 
counts for the severe judgment of St. Augustine and St. 
Jerome against its teachings. The scandals of the Pris- 
cillianists during the fifth century, drew upon them the 



" B Vacandard, op. cit., 10. 
346 Id., 10. 
847 Id., 12. 
M8 Id., 26-30. 



INQUISITION AND PERSECUTION OF WITCHES 103 

attention of Pope Leo the Great, who, in 447, reproved 
them for loosening the marriage bonds, for rejecting all 
decency and deriding all law, hnman and divine. 349 He 
declared it was natural that temporal rnlers should pun- 
ish the sacrilegious acts of the sect, and put to death the 
founder and some of his followers. He held that this 
redounded to the advantage of the Church, for though the 
Church was averse to the shedding of blood, yet she was 
aided by this imperial severity, fear of which drove the 
guilty to seek a spiritual remedy. 350 

The ecclesiastical ideas of the first five centuries may 
be briefly summed up as follows : St. Augustine, St. Am- 
brose, St. Leo I, St. Chrysostom held that the Church 
should not shed blood; other teachers, as Optatus of 
Mileve and Priscillian himself, thought that the state 
could pronounce the death penalty on heretics, in case the 
public welfare demanded it and in support of this doc- 
trine, they quoted the Old Testament. 351 Without recom- 
mending this theory, Pope Leo the Great, did not con- 
demn the application in the case of the Priscillianists. 
The majority of the teachers held that the death penalty 
for heresy when not civilly criminal, was irreconcilable 
with the spirit of Christianity. St. Augustine for the 
western Church, says, speaking of heretics, "We wish 
them to be corrected, not put to death; we desire the 
triumph of discipline, not the death penalties which they 
deserve. ' ' 352 St. John Chrysostom says substantially the 
same for the eastern Church: "God forbids us to kill 
them, for he regards their conversion as possible ; but He 
does not forbid us to repel them, to deprive them of free 
speech or to prohibit their assemblies. ' ' 353 The assistance 
of the secular power was not, therefore, entirely rejected; 



'"Vacandard, op. cit, 31. 

350 Id., 32. 

353 Id., 33. 

""Augustine, Ep. c, n. 1. 

353 Chrysostom, Homilia XLVI, Matthaeum, cap. 2. 



104 INQUISITION AND PERSECUTION OF WITCHES 

it could be sought as often as the general or domestic 
welfare required it. 354 

From the sixth to the eleventh centuries, heretics, ex- 
cept the Manichaeans, in one or two instances were not 
subjected to persecution, 355 but lived side by side with the 
Catholics under the protection of the State. 

About the year 1000, Manichaeans from Bulgaria, 
under various names, spread over Italy, Spain, Gaul, and 
Germany. Popular sentiment showed itself adverse to 
these dangerous sectaries and sometimes resulted in local 
persecution, for which no responsibility attaches to the 
Church. About the middle of the twelfth century, the 
Bishop of Chalons observed that the sect was spreading 
in his diocese and asked of Wazo, Bishop of Liege, advice 
as to the use of force, "An terrenae postestatis gladio 
in eos sit animadvertendum necne?" 356 Wazo replied 
that this was contrary to the spirit of the Church and the 
words of its Founder, Who ordained that the tares should 
be allowed to grow with the wheat until the day of the 
harvest, for those who are tares today might be wheat to- 
morrow; therefore, let the heretics live and let them be 
excommunicated. 357 This principle could not always be 
followed, and Cathari were sometimes burned at the 
stake by persons who misinterpreted the bishop's sen- 
tence of condemnation. 358 Peter Cantor, the most learned 
man of northern France in the twelfth century, says that 
"whether they be convicted of error or freely confess 
their guilt, Catharists are not to be put to death, at least 
not when they refrain from armed assaults upon the 
Church. ' ,359 St. Bernard of Clairvaux held the same opin- 
ion, "men are to be won to the faith by persuasion, not by 
violence." 360 In the second half of the twelfth century, 

354 Vacandard, op. cit., 34. 

355 Id., 37. 

858 P. L. CXLII, 752. 

S57 Ibid. 

358 Vacandard, op. cit., 42. 

859 P. L. CCV, 231. 

360 P. L. CLXXXII, 676. 



INQUISITION AND PERSECUTION OF WITCHES 105 

Catharism so menaced not only the Church's existence 
but also that of Christian society, that a prescrip- 
tive law grew up, at least in Germany, France, and 
Spain, which punished these heretics with death by 
fire, yet ecclesiastical legislation was still far from 
this severity. Innocent III (1198) wrote to the arch- 
bishops of Aix and Auch and to the King of France, 
that "it is necessary to use the spiritual sword of excom- 
munication against heretics ; if this did not suffice, the ma- 
terial sword was to be employed." 361 The Lateran Coun- 
cil, 1215, made the laws of Innocent III canons of the uni- 
versal Church, and declared that all heretics should be ex- 
communicated and delivered to the secular arm to re- 
ceive their just punishment. 362 This act was a relative 
service to the heretics, for the regular canonical proce- 
dure thus introduced did much to abrogate the arbitrari- 
ness, passion and injustice of the civil courts in Spain, 
France and Germany. As long as the prescriptions of 
Innocent remained in force no summary executions oc- 
curred; neither rack nor stake were set up. His reign 
affords many examples showing how much of the vigor 
he took away in practice from the existing penal code. 368 
In 1220 the Emperor Frederick II promulgated an 
imperial law in which he declared that to offend the 
Divine Majesty was a greater crime than to offend the 
majesty of the emperor, this put heresy on a par with 
treason and called for a severer punishment than the law 
actually decreed. About 1230, through the joint efforts 
of Frederick II and Pope Gregory IX, the death penalty 
of the stake was substituted for banishment. 364 The Pope, 
in 1231, enacted a law ordering heretics condemned by 
the Church, to be handed over to the secular arm to re- 
ceive the punishment they deserved. All who abjured 



m P. L. CCXIV, Ep. I, 81; CCXVI, Ep. I, 94. 
862 Vacandard, op. cit, 73. 
l83 Blotzer, Cath. Ency., VIII, art. Inquisition. 
,M Vacandard, op. cit., 131. 



106 INQUISITION AND PERSECUTION OF WITCHES 

and accepted a fitting penance were to be imprisoned for 
life, without prejudice to the other penalties for heresy, 
such as confiscation. 365 These and other rescripts were 
adopted into ecclesiastical criminal law in 1231 and were 
soon applied at Eome. It was then that the Inquisition 
of the Middle Ages was instituted. The Pope did not 
establish the Inquisition as a distinct and separate trib- 
unal; what he did was to appoint special judges, who 
executed their doctrinal functions in the name .of the 
Pope. The inquisitors were chosen mainly, though not 
exclusively, from the Dominicans and Franciscans, who 
were sent through Lombardy, Germany, and France; 
wherever the inquisitors sat, there was the Inquisition. 
By a law of Frederick II, 1231, all suspects were to be 
tried by an ecclesiastical tribunal and if, being declared 
guilty, they refused to abjure, they were to be burned in 
presence of the people. 366 By 1238 the legal penalty for 
heretics throughout the empire was burning at the stake. 
By 1255 the Inquisition was in full activity in all the 
countries of central and western Europe. 367 

The question may be asked, what is to be understood 
by the word heresy as used by the Inquisition! We can 
ascertain the meaning of the word from two canonists, 
St. Eaymond of Pennafort and St. Thomas Aquinas. 
Raymond gives four meanings of the word heretic, but 
says that from the standpoint of canon law, "a heretic 
is one who denies the faith." 368 St. Thomas is more ac- 
curate. He declares that no one is truly a heretic unless 
he obstinately maintains his error, even after it has been 
pointed out by ecclesiastical authority. 369 (This is still the 
theological meaning.) By degrees, however, the word ac- 
quired a broader meaning, until superstition was in- 
cluded, and sorcery and magic were put on a par with 

365 Greg. IX, Decretales, cap. XV, De haereticis, lib. V, tit. 7. 

368 Eymeric, Directorium Inquisitorani, appendix 14. Venice, 1595. 

3fl7 Vacandard, op. cit, 163. 

308 Id., 192. 

3C9 Aquinas, Ilda, Ildae, quaest, 11. 



INQUISITION AND PERSECUTION OF WITCHES 107 

heresy. Alexander IV decided that divination and sor- 
cery did not fall nnder the jurisdiction of the Inquisition, 
unless there was manifest heresy involved; 370 this rule, 
at the end of the thirteenth cenury was embodied in the 
canon law by Boniface VIII. Alexander's definition left 
open for discussion a fairly extensive and intricate class 
of questions as to the degree of heresy involved in the 
occult arts, but casuists were not wanting to prove that 
heresy was involved in most cases. Thus, a figurine to 
be effective required to be baptized and this argued a 
heretical notion as to the Sacrament of Baptism. Again, 
few of the arts of the diviner in forecasting the future or 
in tracing stolen articles could be exercised without what 
the inquisitors assumed to be at least a tacit invocation of 
demons, which was heretical. To ask a demon, even with- 
out adoration, that which depends upon the will of God, 
indicated heretical notions as to the power of demons. 
Dove potions and philters were heretical and so were 
spells and charms to cure diseases, the gathering of herbs 
while kneeling, face to the east and repeating the Pater 
Noster, as well as all the other devices which had been 
imposed on popular credulity. Alchemy was one of the 
seven demoniacal arts, for the aid of Satan was necessary 
for the transmutation of metals and the "philosopher's 
stone" was only to be obtained by spells and charms. 371 
From the above enumeration it can be seen over how wide 
a field the Inquisition extended its jurisdiction, and to this 
extension, doubtless, may be attributed the increasing 
rigor which henceforth marked the persecution of sorcery. 
In 1451 Nicholas V enlarged the powers of Hugues le 
Noir, inquisitor of France, by granting him jurisdiction 
over divinaton, even when it did not savor of sorcery. 372 
In this way, astrologers, diviners, palmists, as well as 



S70 Vacandard, op. cit., 196. 

371 Th. Aquin., op. cit, Ilda., Hdae quaest. XCV. Prierias op. cit., Lib. 
Ill, c. 1. Eymeric, op. cit., 342, 443. 
,72 Ripoll, Bullar. Ill, 301. 



108 INQUISITION AND PERSECUTION OF WITCHES 

sorcerers, became subject to the Inquisition. In 1458 the 
inquisitor Nicholas Jaquerius remarked that even if 
the night-flights of women were an illusion, they were 
none the less heretical as the followers of Diana and 
Herodias were necessarily heretics in their waking hours, 
since they rendered homage to the devil. 373 About 1500 the 
inquisitor, Bernard of Como, taught categorically that 
the phenomena of witchcraft, especially attendance at the 
witches' Sabbat, were not fanciful but real, "This is 
proved," he says, "from the fact that the Popes have 
permitted witches to be burned at the stake ; they would 
not have countenanced this, if these persons were not 
real heretics and their crimes only imaginary, for the 
Church only punishes proved crimes. ' m4 

The witchcraft fever of the fifteenth and sixteenth 
centuries stimulated to an extraordinary degree the zeal 
of the inquisitors. The Bull, Summis Desiderantes of 
Innocent VIII, 1484, made matters worse. Innocent had 
no intention of committing the Church to a belief in 
the phenomena maintained in his Bull, but his personal 
opinion had a great influence on the canonists and in- 
quisitors of his day ; this is clear from the numerous trials 
for witchcraft during this period. 375 It is impossible to 
estimate the number of sorcerers condemned by the In- 
quisition; Louis of Paramo declared that in a century 
and a half, from 1404, the Holy Office sent over thirty 
thousand witches and sorceresses to the stake, who, if 
they had been left unpunished, would easily have brought 
the whole world to destruction. 376 This number is exag- 
gerated; nevertheless, the abuse of condemnation in the 
matter of witchcraft was sufficient to excite the imagina- 
tion and consequently to make possible accounts of in- 
credible numbers who perished in the flames. The 



S73 Vacandard, op. cit., 197; Lea, op. cit., 497. 
m Comensis, Lucerna, 144. 



v^uiiicussio, uutciua, 111. 

87B Janssen, op. cit., VIII, 507. 
876 Vacandard, op. cit., 242. 



INQUISITION AND PERSECUTION OF WITCHES 109 

Papacy itself recognized the injustice practised by its 
agents, for in 1637 instructions were issued stigmatizing 
the conduct of the inquisitors on account of their arbi- 
trary and unjust persecution of witches — they were 
accused of extorting from them by cruel torture, con- 
fessions that were valueless, and of abandoning them to 
the secular arm without sufficient cause. 377 

Persecution of witches by the Inquisition was preva- 
lent in southern France, Germany and Italy, and hun- 
dreds of victims, frequently innocent, were burned at 
the stake. 378 The death penalty, as has been already 
stated, was not decreed by the Church, but by the secular 
power after condemnation by the ecclesiastical court. The 
greatest penalties which the Inquisition could inflict were 
life imprisonment, exclusion from the communion of the 
Church and abandonment to the civil power. These 
penalties, moreover, were on many occasions remitted, 
mitigated or commuted, as the case might demand, and 
on the whole it may be said that the tribunal was 
humanely conducted. 

Torture was not of ecclesiastical origin and was long 
prohibited in the ecclesiastical courts, yet, the Church 
must be considered responsible for having introduced 
it into the proceedings of the Inquisition, not as a mode 
of punishment, for it was not regarded as such, but 
merely as a means of eliciting the truth. It was first 
authorized by Innocent IV, in his Bull, Ad exstirpanda, 
1252, which was confirmed by Alexander IV, 1259, and 
Clement IV, 1265. The Bull of Innocent IV states that 
"the podesta (ruler) is ordered to force all captured 
heretics to confess and accuse their accomplices by tor- 
ture, which must not imperil life or injure limb, ' ' " citra 
membri diminutionem et mortis periculum. ' ,379 Later 



377 
378 

III-VI 



Vacandard, op. cit, 242. 

Mall. Malef. P. II, quaest. 1; P. Ill, q. 15; Comensis, op. cit., c. 
-VI. 
379 Eymeric, op. cit, appendix, 8. 



110 INQUISITION AND PERSECUTION OF WITCHES 

Clement V ordered that torture should not be admin- 
istered by the tribual of the Inquisition without the con- 
sent of the bishop, if this could be obtained within eight 
days. 380 These restrictions left a great deal to the discre- 
tion of the inquisitors, some of whom, however, setting 
these limitations aside, acted with great severity. Be- 
sides flogging, the usual methods employed to obtain a 
confession of guilt were the rack, the strappado, 381 and 
burning coals. This torture was not to be applied unless 
the accused was uncertain in his statements and seemed 
already virtually convicted by many weighty proofs. In 
general, this violent questioning (quaestio) was to be de- 
ferred as long as possible and only resorted to when the 
judge was convinced that no gentler means would avail. 
In the beginning, torture was held to be so odious that 
the torturer was always a civil official; Church canons 
prohibited ecclesiastics from taking part in the "quaes- 
tio" and the inquisitor who accompanied the victim to 
the torture chamber was thereby rendered irregular and 
could not exercise his office until he obtained the neces- 
sary dispensation. The tribunals complained of this cum- 
brous mode and in 1260 Alexander V authorized the in- 
quisitors and their associates to mutually grant all the 
needed dispensations for irregularities thus incurred. 382 
This permission was renewed by Urban IV, 1262, and 
was practically an authorization to assist at the interroga- 
tories at which torture was employed. From this time the 
ecclesiastics appeared in person in the torture chamber 
and the inquisitors' manuals record and approve the prac- 
tice. 383 The general rule was that torture was not to ex- 
ceed a half -hour and was to be resorted to only once. This 
regulation was sometimes circumvented, first, by assum- 



380 Vacandard, op. cit, 187. 

381 The strappado consisted in raising the victim by means of ropes 
and pulley to some distance above the ground, and then allowing him tc 
drop back suddenly. 

382 Eymeric, op. cit., 132. 

383 Id., 481. 



INQUISITION AND PERSECUTION OF WITCHES 111 

ing that with every new piece of evidence the rack could be 
utilized again, and, second, by imposing fresh torments, 
often on different days, on the poor victim, not by way of 
repetition but as a continuation. Conscientious and sen- 
sible judges attached no great importance to confessions 
extracted by torture; Eymeric, after long experience, 
declared that "torture is deceptive and inefficacious, ' ' 
"Quaestiones sunt fallaces et inefficaces.'' 384 

When the victim of the inquisitorial process was a 
witch or a sorceress, there was not much mildness shown. 
The practice of the black art was so widespread in the 
fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, and peo- 
ple's minds were so filled with dread, that the inquisitor 
was often convinced in advance of the guilt of those 
brought before him as defamed for sorcery, and ancient 
expedients were improved upon and refined. Endurance 
of torture might formerly have been regarded as an evi- 
dence of innocence, now it was an additional proof of 
guilt, for it showed that Satan was endeavoring to save 
his servitor by the gift of taciturnity. In view of this 
satanic gift, torture was not always to be employed to 
obtain a confession; promises of pardon were freely 
made, and if the fraud was successful, the inquisitor com- 
manded the sentence to be pronounced by someone else, 
or allowed an interval to elapse before himself sending 
his deluded victim to the stake. 385 

We cannot read any account of the witch-trials and 
fail to be impressed with the fact that the witches per- 
sisted in the truth of their confessions, no matter what 
promises or threats were held out to them. How may this 
be explained! There are several possible reasons. The 
witch, whom repetition of torture had reduced to a state 
of despair, naturally sought to make her confession 
square with the requirements of the judge ; the confession 
once made, she was doomed and knew that retractation 



884 Eymeric, op. cit., 481. 

385 Delrio, op. cit, lib. V, sec. 9; Mall. Malef. P. Ill, Q. 13, 14. 



112 INQUISITION AND PERSECUTION OF WITCHES 

would only bring a prolongation of suffering. She there- 
fore adhered to her confession and when it was read in 
public admitted its truth. In many cases, torture and 
prolonged imprisonment in foul dungeons produced par- 
tial mental derangement, easily leading to belief that she 
had committed the acts so persistently imputed to her. 
Again, desire to obtain the last Sacraments, which were 
only administered to repentant sinners, might induce 
some to maintain to the last, the truth of their confes- 
sions. No proof more unquestionable than this could be 
obtained and belief in these tales of witches was there- 
fore unhesitating. These facts might lead us to believe 
in the truth of the statements made by the condemned, 
but with our present scientfic knowledge we are more 
likely to assign the effects to different causes, physical 
and psychological. 

In the witch-trials themselves the accounts of the 
orgies between the devil and the witches, appear as the 
basis of witchcraft and present an appalling picture of 
the times. Frequently trials for immorality changed 
under the judges' hands into witch-trials and there can 
be no doubt that many of those who were so charged 
were people who had been guilty of grave offenses against 
morality. 386 Nor can it be doubted that among men and 
women of every class, extensive use was made of intoxi- 
cants and narcotics, either as drinks or as salves, as, for 
instance, hellebore, deadly nightshade, white poppy, hen- 
bane, hashish, and so forth, which roused the passions 
and caused deep sleep, accompanied by all sorts of phan- 
tasms, in which the witches dreamed of dancing, eating, 
drinking, music and also believed that they were flying 
through space. According to Weyer's account of the 
witch-salves, the chief ingredients, besides a variety of 
innocuous things, were always the saps of narcotic herbs, 
which had a specially powerful effect on the sensorium. 2 - 7 

886 Zeitschrift fur kathol. Theologie, XII, 135. Innsbruck. 
3S7 Weyer, De praestigiis daemonum, et incantationibus ac veneficis, 
Libri sex, Basle, 1568. Lib. II, Cap. 31. 



INQUISITION AND PERSECUTION OF WITCHES 113 

Binz, in his John Weyer, remarks: "I could also prove 
from present-day medical experiences, that under such 
acute poisoning with narcotic drugs, women will have 
dreams having all the appearance of actuality. 388 Fre- 
quently, according to reports of the trials, oils, salves, 
injurious powders were found in the dwelling places of 
the accused. According to the statements of the witches, 
the salves, for which the fat of murdered and unbaptized 
children was used by preference, served both for the 
necessary anointing for the performance of the witch- 
dances and for magic injury to human beings. Of real 
poison-mixers, there was no lack among the witches and 
sorceresses brought before the judges; and trials for 
murder, robbery and deadly injuries, like those for im- 
morality, were often conducted as witch-trials, because 
the devil had the largest share in such acts and because 
he led all those who were subjugated by him into such 
inhuman abominations." "Many people entered into 
actual league with the devil and thought by the use of 
fiendish means to make themselves masters of super- 
human arts with a view to injuring their f ellow-men. ' ,389 
As an explanation of witch-trials in general, von 
Raumer says, ' ' The witch-trials in which, in the preceding 
century, were seen only self-deception, intentional fraud, 
and sheer superstition, have in recent times regained im- 
portance for the reason that the experiences and data 
collected on the subject of magnetism and the phenomena 
of so-called somnambulism show at least this much, that 
underlying the facts which come down to us from the 
past, there is — to judge from all the circumstances — an 
actual state of exaltation, of ecstasy, and that under cer- 
tain presupposed conditions one human being can work 
upon another in a manner far surpassing anything possi- 
ble in a normal, healthy state, and which may to a certain 



388 Binz, Johan Weyer, 36; Sorcellerie et Justice Criminelle a Valen- 
ciennes. Valenciennes, 1861, 58. 
889 Janssen, op. cit, VIII, 667. 



114 INQUISITION AND PERSECUTION OF WITCHES 

extent be characterized as bewitchment. Without, there- 
fore, attributing any objective reality to the marvels of 
sorcerers, the leagues of witches with Satan, the nightly 
rides, and so forth, which we must always put down as 
superstition, it must nevertheless now be conceded that 
a certain element of reality may reasonably be recognized 
in many of the accounts of the bewitchment of human 
beings and cattle and the injury done by poisons and in- 
cantations ; particularly it has been shown that diseased 
states of exaltation may pass from one to another by a 
kind of infection. Thus accounts preserved to us on this 
matter have at the present day a higher psychological 
interest, since they bear witness to peculiar subjective 
conditions on the dark side of mental life, which, though 
they must be regarded as mere abnormal conditions, are 
worthy of the same attention which every other enig- 
matical disease of the body deserves. The burning of 
witches (although frequently other crimes worthy of 
death were mixed up with witchcraft) must always be 
regarded as a most melancholy aberration, but we must 
none the less grant nowadays, that the superstition of 
our ancestors and their consequent misconception of 
justice, was essentially due to the fact that they attrib- 
uted an actual objective reality to leagues with the devil, 
which, according to the ideas then current of the proper 
penalties for sins committed against God, it was right to 
punish with the severest mode of death." 390 

Then, too, the people of the age were saturated with 
witchcraft ; it could not be otherwise, since it was talked 
of in daily life and so excited the imagination. Even in 
the minds of those who were free from accusation, every 
witch-trial called up images which haunted them, waking 
and dreaming. The power of suggestion, then so little 
understood, must be taken into account; so much witch- 
craft was in the air that it forced itself on the fancy of 
the victims, making them appear guilty even in their 

SB0 Von Raumer, Markische Hexenprozesse, 239. 



INQUISITION AND PERSECUTION OF WITCHES 115 

own eyes ; the judges, too, frequently suggested the sub- 
ject matter of the confessions, to which the accused re- 
sponded, scarcely knowing what they said or did. Janssen 
writes on this subject as follows: "The belief in witch- 
craft and sorcery, by which all brains were possessed and 
the concomitant terror of witches, that had become a 
popular craze were perpetually fed and strengthened, 
on the one hand by the demoralization, while on the other 
hand, they were an abundant source of vice and depravity, 
of greed, calumny, faithlessness, envy, persecution, blood- 
thirstiness and murder. In trials inumerable, the moral 
depravity of the torturers, the officials, judges and clerks 
plays a disgraceful part, whilst in case after case the 
whole judicial procedure against the witches was con- 
ducted in such a manner that many thousands of innocent 
victims were driven, mad with torture, to the stake, and 
out of every funeral pile rose a fresh crop of witches." 391 
It might, perhaps, be asked why this witch-persecution 
was so widespread and persistent, why thousands of in- 
nocent persons went to their death confessing an imagi- 
nary guilt, why the learning of theologians and the justice 
of judges was so blinded and led astray through so many 
centuries. There are several possible solutions of this 
difficulty. Fr. Schwickerath, S. J., writing in the Ameri- 
can Catholic Quarterly Review for July, 1902, says : 
"There undoubtedly exists what the Germans call Zeit- 
geist, the spirit of the age, which affects all, for good or 
ill, which influences theologians as well as others, and 
even the supreme rulers of the Church in their private 
opinions and decisions, which do not possess the character 
of ex cathedra definitions. It is unfair and narrow- 
minded to look down with superciliousness on those who 
have gone before us, because they held many opinions 
which are now rejected by all enlightened minds. We 
must endeavor to judge men by the circumstances in 
which they lived. However, this cannot prevent us from 

891 Janssen, op. cit., VIII, 586. 



116 INQUISITION AND PERSECUTION OF WITCHES 

deploring the existence of some of their opinions and the 
disastrous results to which they led. It cannot be denied 
that the credulity of medieval chroniclers and the lack 
of historical criticism on the part of great theologians 
of former ages was, to say the least, a most unfortunate 
feature ; and in a matter of practical consequences, like 
that of witchcraft, it has proved extremely disastrous." 392 
Other possible causes were : the lack of knowledge of 
medicine, so that certain diseases such as epilepsy, hys- 
teria, or somnambulism were frequently treated and 
punished as sorcery and witchcraft; the almost total 
ignorance of the nature of mental disorders which were 
regarded as something contrary to nature and as evidence 
of punishable magic or necromantic influences. In many 
cases the witches were mentally afflicted persons, suffer- 
ing from illusions of sight or hearing, and all that they 
said about the devil and his dominion over mental and 
bodily life, about deviPs arts, about sabbats and orgies, 
was simply what they had heard from their youth up and 
had come in consequence to think they had themselves 
experienced. It is a well-known fact that some of the 
stronger emotions, if unchecked, may unbalance the mind. 
Fear presents strange phantasies to diseased imagina- 
tions, so that crude minds were fascinated and terrorized 
by eclipses, lightning, storms, which natural phenomena 
were explained by Satanic influence because of the natural 
horror of the unknown. Every species of enthusiasm, 
every strong affection may lead to mental disorders. Pov- 
erty and starvation may be active agents in producing 
hallucinations in minds addicted to melancholy. The fre- 
quency of epidemics in the Middle Ages, often followed 
or preceded by periods of famine is a historical fact too 
well known to need comment. " Added to these facts was 
the sickly, overwrought condition of popular sentiment of 
the later Middle Ages, which sought expression in the 



S82 Am. Cath. Quart. XXVIII, 478. 



INQUISITION AND PERSECUTION OF WITCHES 117 

search after the prodigious, in visions, in astrological and 
cabalistic practices. ' ' 393 

One other cause of this widespread craze which must 
not be overlooked, especially in the sixteenth century in 
Germany, was the teaching of Luther and his followers, 
who did much to spread belief in the unbounded might 
of the devil. It is one of the chief characteristics of 
Luther that in his social intercourse, in speech, in writ- 
ing, and in preaching he always brought in the devil, 
attributed far more influence and importance to him than 
is warranted by Scripture and so gained for him a popu- 
larity which he had never enjoyed. All this had worked 
with coarsening and damaging effect on theology and 
preaching, as well as on popular opinions, habits, litera- 
ture and also on criminal justice. "All the slumbering 
germs of superstition among both the rude masses and 
the higher circles were by this means awakened and set 
in motion. The more the effectual means of salvation 
instituted by God, the Sacraments and sacramentals, were 
mocked and despised the more did empty, fraudulent, ab- 
surd superstition and devil worship grow up among the 
demoralized people. ' ,394 

In spite, however, of all the fostering causes and in- 
fluences enumerated, the witch-superstition would not 
have reached the dimensions which in fact it did reach, 
if the age had been less credulous and more critical. The 
witch craze must be looked upon as a malady of the 
period, an "intellectual epidemic," to which, unfortu- 
nately, the leading personalities in Church and state 
succumbed as children of the age. The analogy of an 
epidemic also holds good in that the superstition spread 
with incredible rapidity. "The imagination of a gen- 
erally ignorant and neglected populace scented every- 
where sorcery and witchcraft, and narrow-minded, un- 
critical, unpractical scholars, laymen and clergy, jurists 



396 Janssen, op. cit., VIII, 546. 
394 Id., VIII, 529. 



118 INQUISITION AND PERSECUTION OF WITCHES 

and theologians gave in to the popular supersitition in- 
stead of making a stand against it. ' ' 395 

The present-day teaching of the Chnrch on this subject 
is less detailed. It is true the devil has certain powers 
over natural phenomena, but it is not necessary to at- 
tribute all the evil effects to direct satanic power. The 
Church does not make many positive pronouncements on 
this subject, and the majority of theologians confine them- 
selves to probable opinions. "No Christian can assert 
the impossibility of diabolic influences upon mankind ; nay, 
that they are possible is shown by Scripture and tradition ; 
therefore the error of former generations (in regard to 
witchcraft) was not one of principle; it existed only in 
the manner of treating particular manifestations. " 3;,e 
The possibility of such leagues with the devil, not, how- 
ever, the existence of any particular compact, is a matter 
of belief for the Catholic. 397 Yet the attitude of the Cath- 
olic mind towards the whole question has considerably 
changed, as we know now how much is purely natural 
which even the most enlightened men of their age for- 
merly accounted supernatural. Many particulars of 
witchcraft, as the belief in the Sabbats, the belief in 
incubus and succubus, which played a most important 
part in the witch-trials, are now rejected either ex- 
pressly or indirectly by the best Catholic theologians. 
The Catholic Church admits in principle the possibility 
of interference in the course of nature by spirits other 
than God, whether good or evil, but never without God's 
permission. As to the frequency of such interference, 
especially by malignant agencies at the request of man, 
she observes the utmost reserve. Father Pesch, S. J., 
says: "A priori we ought to be very slow in admitting 
in a given case that diabolical influence exists unless it is 
proved by irrefutable arguments. In matters of this 



s9B Duhr, op. cit, 7. 

S9a Hergenrother, Church and State. London, 1876. II, 344. 

397 Lehmkuhl, Theologia Moralis, I, 278. Freiburg, 1910. 



INQUISITION AND PERSECUTION OF WITCHES 119 

kind, the greatest incredulity is preferable to credulity, 
when there is question of men who make a business of 
such things. On the other hand, not all the narrations 
about compacts with demons are simply to be rejected 
as fables. If the fact is proved with historical certainty, 
and if this fact cannot be accounted for by any physical 
forces nor by human artifices, then we must reasonably 
find higher agents in it. It will appear from circum- 
stances whether God, good angels or evil spirits are these 
higher agents. But in passing such judgments, the great- 
est caution is required, because in things so remote from 
the senses mistakes are very easily made." 398 

Catholic theology condemns magic and any attempt 
at it, as a grievous sin against the virtue of religion, be- 
cause all magical performances, if undertaken seriously, 
are based on the expectation of interference by demons 
or lost souls. 399 Even if undertaken out of curiosity, the 
performance of a magical ceremony is sinful, as it either 
proves a lack of faith or is a vain superstition. 400 



398 Pesch, Praelectiones Dogmaticae. Freiburg, 1898. Ill, 445. 

38e Perrone, De Virtute Religionis. Turin, 1867, 104. 

"°Op cit., 105; Suarez, XIII, lib. II, cap. 14. Lehmkuhl, I, 277. 



CHAPTER IX 
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 

It seems at first sight from the mass of evidence of- 
fered that the position of the Church on the question of 
witchcraft was not a very definite one, but a summary of 
the principal facts will serve to make clear the following 
points : 

1. The Church did not always consider and conse- 
quently did not always treat witchcraft and those who 
practised it in the same manner, or rather, as the evil 
developed, she met it by different means. Here we have 
to distinguish carefully between the idea of the possi- 
bility of the belief and the actual practice of it. In the 
earlier centuries (I-VIII) she treated the whole thing as 
a delusion, seemed to take for granted that no such prac- 
tices really existed and contented herself with punish- 
ing merely those who believed in the reality of them. 
Her position at this time was by no means a denial of the 
objective reality of the malefic practices or of the effects 
alleged to have been produced by them. It seemed as 
though, knowing the possibilities of evil likely to menace 
a world newly turned from paganism and devil-worship, 
if she emphasized the reality of witchcraft and sorcery, 
she deemed it best to turn men's minds from the subject 
by treating it as a superstition, a belief unworthy of 
minds but recently opened to the truth. She by no means 
denied the possibility of e. g. commerce with the evil one, 
on the contrary, she, by expressly forbidding such com- 
merce, granted not only its possibility but also its evi- 
dent probability. What she did was what any wise 
mother does in the face of an attractive because unknown 
evil — she told her children that the evil was not at all 
what they thought it and was altogether unworthy of even 
serious examination. In other words she tried to shut 
their eyes to it. 
120 



SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 121 

2. When this wise provision became insufficient and 
the practice grew alarmingly frequent and fertile in de- 
structive consequences to souls, in spite of her early pre- 
cautions and attempts to remove the idea of the thing 
from men's minds, the Church changed her attitude to- 
wards the matter and her manner of dealing with the 
offender. Her children had grown, they could not be 
frightened by the earlier strictures ; they needed sterner 
measures and the sterner measures were taken. Their 
eyes could no longer be turned away by warning; the 
allurement of the mysterious was too strong for them to 
resist. The influx into the true fold of half-converted 
barbarians who had worshiped the forces of nature, the 
increased intercourse with the Turks and Moors, whose 
beliefs were half superstition, the Eastern Schism which 
weakened the spirit of childlike trust in the pronounce- 
ments of their religious teachers, the sad frequency of all 
sorts of material disasters, wars, famines, plagues, tem- 
pests, fires, with their consequences, among which must 
be reckoned that feeling of human impotency before the 
forces of nature, and the innate tendency to control them 
or placate them in some way when it seems that God has 
forgotten His creatures and does not hear them when 
they pray — all these things seemed as it were to drive 
people to the practices of sorcery and witchcraft. Once 
the spark had caught in a single fanatic brain in any 
given village or town, the fatal faculty of imitation and 
that peculiar effect of mob psychology which makes a 
number of people acting together so different from any 
of the individual characters thereof, were factors which 
favored the development of just such a hysterical practice 
as witchcraft became about the fourteenth century. 
Forced by the situation to change her policy, the Church 
began to fulminate more rigorously against not only the 
believers in, but the workers of, witchcraft and sorcery. 
Not stopping to decide whether the Sabbats were real or 
the fantasies of half-crazed brains, she punished with im- 



122 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 

partial severity all who asserted that tliey had been so 
engaged, both witches and those who had recourse to 
them. 

3. As the discipline of States was often seriously de- 
ranged by these disturbances, the secular arm was obliged 
to take cognizance of them. If the offenders had been con- 
tent with a simple denial or admission of guilt, this mat- 
ter would have been comparatively simple, but unfortu- 
nately the circumstantial accounts of midnight orgies 
and detailed descriptions of the personal appearance of 
Satan and his ministers, of the evils worked by his aid, so 
inflamed the popular imagination that the evil instead of 
being restrained by forceful measures only grew in mag- 
nitude and intensity. The State, thereupon, had recourse 
to its severest weapons — torture for eliciting the truth 
and death by fire for repressing the offense. The process 
has already been outlined, 401 the Church judged and the 
State punished. After the establishment of the Inquisi- 
tion, the question by torture was introduced into this 
tribunal as a sort of necessary proceeding in arriving at 
the truth. Hence the criticism of the Church as a savage 
torturer of innocent but deluded victims. If the Inquisi- 
tion used torture it was only following a custom revived 
along with other practices of the ancient Eoman law. 
This point has been too well elucidated by Catholic his- 
torians to need further comment here. 402 

4. Heresy, when it first made its appearance in the 
Church, was frequently complicated and confused with 
witchcraft, especially was this true of the Cathari, Yau- 
dois and Luciferians. As heresy was a crime against the 
State as well as against the Church, being a revolt against 
the established order of things, it was treated with the ut- 
most severity by the tribunals utriusque juris. A heretic 
was often accused as a witch and a witch as a heretic, al- 
though perhaps guilty on only one charge. It is not a mat- 



401 Chap. VIII. 
402 Vacandard. 



SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 123 

ter of wonder then that the popular, not too well-in- 
structed mind should fail to distinguish between the two 
and increase its hatred for both. This hatred led to the 
whole sale witch-burnings of which the Church is some- 
times accused. 

5. Finally it should be observed that at no period of 
her history has the Church pronounced a definite ex cath 
edra decision regarding the reality or unreality of witch- 
craft or the possibility of effects alleged to have been pro- 
duced thereby. Theologians and canonists voiced their 
opinions on the subject, popes expressed their views, 
councils adopted measures to prevent the ruin of souls 
through practices evidently evil whether based on real 
phenomena or on the fantastic delusions of unrestrained 
imaginations. Many writers, as we have seen, took for 
granted the objective reality of witchcraft and the possi- 
bility of producing effects transcending nature, they did 
not even attempt to prove what seemed to them so obvi- 
ous. In an age when faith in the supernatural was one 
of the strongest experiences of human life, belief in the 
possibility of intercourse with evil spirits was not likely 
to be called in question. 

Today the question obtrudes itself insistently — did 
all or any of it happen, or was it all a delusion! Did the 
men and women who claimed to have assisted at meetings 
of demons really assist at any such gatherings or did they 
only think they did? Was there any such thing as a 
personal pact with Satan by means of which storms could 
be raised, crops blighted, cattle injured, enemies or rivals 
mysteriously killed or mutilated or afflicted with disease, 
human emotions excited or allayed or changed? Some of 
these phenomena are evidently to be explained now, as 
due to natural causes imperfectly understood in an age 
when medical science and physical laws were so little 
known. Some of them the Church has admitted, as, e.g., 
the possibility of a pact with Satan and the interference 
with natural phenomena by agencies other than God, but 



124 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 

whether these agencies are good or evil, she does not say. 
Still others might be explained in view of present day in- 
vestigations into hypnotism, suggestion and the physic 
phenomena claimed to be produced by spiritistic media. 
This is, undoubtedly, a possible explanation of the extra- 
ordinary spread of witchcraft, and might easily account 
for some of the picturesque details supplied at witch 
trials. 

Finally, the teaching of the Church, on the moral as- 
pect of the matter, is briefly this: all magic and magic 
practices are sinful even when indulged in merely from 
motives of curiosity and hence are to be abstained from 
by all who profess to belong to her fold. The most defi- 
nite opinions of accredited theologians have been those 
of the nineteenth century, who although not specifying 
particular practices unhesitatingly condemn them all. On 
the purely historical side of the question, it is not possible 
to dp*;} me existence and power of evil spirits and still 
follow the teachings of the Church, even though she has 
given no precise definition of the extent of this power. 
Her policy, moreover, is based on this teaching, but fre- 
quently modified by popular beliefs and the exigencies of 
particular periods. As most of the cases of witchcraft 
had to be dealt with by officials of inferior rank, the avoid- 
ance of all error was not to be expected. Catholics gen- 
erally and churchmen in particular have usually held the 
views of the age in which they lived. 



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INDEX 

References in light type are to pages, in bold type to dates. 



Aachen, Council of, 789, 35. 

Abelard, 44. 

Agde, Council of, 506, 34. 

Agnus Dei, 91. 

Agobard, 38. 

Agricola Franz, 73. 

Albertini Arnaldus, 68. 

Albertus Magnus, 52, seq. 

Alcala, Council of, 1335, 97. 

Alchemy, one of demoniacal arts, 107. 

Alexander IV, Pope, 86, 107, 109. 

Alexander V, Pope, 110. 

Alexander VI, Pope, 94. 

Alphons a Castro, 69. 

Ambrose of Milan, 102, 103. 

Ancyra, Council of, 314, 13, 33. 

Angelo of Verona, 94. 

Angilbert of Milan, see Pavia. 

Antipalus Maleficorum, see Trithem- 

ius. 
Apologia, see Spina. 
Aquaviva Claudius, S. J., 81. 
Aries, Council of, 443 or 452, 33. 
Arm, secular, Intervention of, in 

witch-trials, 122. 
Athanasius, St., 31. 
Attigny, Council of, 785, 35. 
Augustine, St., 19, 31, 102. 
Auxerre, council of, 578, 34. 



Barbarians, Superstitions of, 25. 
Barnabas, Letter of, 29. 
Benedict XII, Pope, 88, seq. 
Bergamo, Council of, 1311, 97. 
Berghamstead, Council of, 697, 35. 
Bernard of Clairvaux, St., 104. 
Bernard of Como, inquisitor, 61, 62, 

108. 
B6ziers, Council of, 1290, 96. 
Binsfeld, Peter, 71. 



Binz, J., 113. 
Bizouard, 14. 
Black Death, regarded as work of 

diabolical powers, 85. 
Bonaventure, St., 54. 
Boniface VIII, Pope, 86. 
Braga, Council of, 563, 34. 
Brumalia, Meaning of, 35. 
Bulls, Papal; Ad extirpanda, 109; 

Omnipotentis Dei, 95. 

Summis desiderantes, 92, 93. 
Burchard of Worms, 39, 41, seq. 



Caesarius of Heisterbach, 51. 

Cajetanus Thomas, 59. 

Calixtus III, Pope, 91. 

Canon Episcopi, 13. 

Carcassonne, Council of, 1272, 96. 

Cathari, 14, 105. 

Cautio Criminalis, see Spee. 

Charlemagne, Edict of, regarding 

witches, 36. 
Children, dedicated to Satan, 16, 74. 
Ciruelo Pedro, 69. 
Clement IV, Pope, 109. 
Clement V, Pope, 110. 
Clement VII, Pope, 95. 
Cologne, Council of, 1280, 96. 
Compurgation, 26. 
Constance, Council of, 1261, 96. 
Constantine, 24, 101. 
Confession manuals, 82, 83. 
Corrector, of Burchard, 48, seq. 
Coyaca, Council of, 1050, 47. 
Cyprian of Carthage, 101. 



Daemonolatreia, see Remigius. 
Delrio Martin, S. J., 77. 
Demon, different concepts of, 29. 

133 



134 



INDEX 



Demons: cult of, developed from 
paganism, 29; immolation to 36, 
37 intercourse with, 28, 39; invo- 
cation for divination, 36 ; powers 
of, 31; punishment for invocation 
of, 36, seq. 

Derangement, Mental, as an explana- 
tion of witchcraft, 112, 116. 

De Strigimagarum, see Prierias. 

Devil, mark of, 17; pact with, 8, 11, 
53, 62, 118; power of, 15, 28, 61, 
118; preached by Luther, 86; 
worshiped under various forms, 
14. 

Devil-worship, introduced by Mani- 
chaeans, 28. 

Diana, presence at Sabbat, 23; queen 
of witches, 23. 

Diseases, mistaken for witchcraft, 
116. 

Divination: among Teutonic tribes, 
25, seq; a rite of the Sabbat, 15. 

Donatists, 102. 

Drexelius Jeremias, S. J., 81, seq. 

Druidism, Magic practices of, 25. 

Duhr, Bernard, S. J., 75. 



Edward I, of England, 86. 
Eichstatt, Council of, 1453, 98. 
Elusa, Council of, 551, 34. 
Elvira, Council of, 300, 33. 
Emeis, see Geiler von Kaisersberg. 
Emperors, Roman, legislation of, 

against witchcraft, 24. 
Enham, Council of, 1009, 47. 
Etymologiae, see Isidore of Seville. 
Eugenius IV, Pope, 90. 
Eusebius, Pope, 32. 
Excommunication, as punishment for 

witchcraft, 35, 48, 98. 
Eymeric, Nicolai, inquisitor, 111. 



Flagellants, 85. 

Florence, Council of, 1517-18, 98. 
Francis de Victoria, 70. 
Frederic II, Emperor, 105, 106. 
Freising, Council of, 799-800, 36; 
1440, 98; 1480, 98. 



Gabriel Biel, 57. 
Gelasius I, Pope, 32. 
Glanvil, 11. 

Gnostic-Manichaeans, 85. 
Grado, Council of, 1296, 96. 
Gratian, 44. 

Gregory I, Pope, 32, seq. 
Gregory II, Pope, 33. 
Gregory VII, Pope, 46. 
Gregory IX, Pope, 105. 
Gregory of Valentia, 75, seq. 
Grimm, 12. 



Hadrian VI, Pope, 95. 

Halitgar of Cambrai, Penitential of, 

48. 
Hansen, Joseph, 85. 
Haruspex, 24. 

Hecate, Patroness of witches, 21. 
Henry Institor, 92, 94. 
Herard of Tours, 47. 
Heresy, connection with witchcraft, 

28-30; punishment by burning, 

106, 108. 
Heretic, Definition of, 107. 
Heretics, punishment of, 106. 
Himmelstrasse, see Lanzkranna. 
Hincmar of Rheims, 39, 47. 
Horace, 22. 
Hugo of Paris, 88. 
Hugues le Noir, 107. 
Hippolytus, 30. 



Fascination, Power of, 54. 
Felix V, anti-pope, 91. 
Figurine, baptism of, 57, 
use of, 19, 20. 



87, 107; 



Images, Waxen, for working spells, 

22, seq., 90. 
Incubi and succubi, Belief in, 66, 77, 

118. 



INDEX 



135 



Innocent III, Pope, 105. 

Innocent IV, Pope, 109. 

Innocent V, Pope, 43. 

Innocent VIII, Pope, 92. 

Inquisition: definition of, 100; estab- 
lishment of, 106; jurisdiction of, 
107; process of, 110. 

Inquisitors, Conduct of, at witchcraft 
trials, 110. 

Irenaeus, 30. 

Isidore of Seville, 32. 

Ivo of Chartres, 42, seq. 



Jacob van Hoogstraten, 64. 
Jerome, St., 102. 
Jews, believers in magic, 20. 
John XXII, Pope, 87, seq. 
John Chrysostom, St., 31, 103. 
John Duns Scotus, 43, 54, seq. 
John Gerson, 56. 
John of Salisbury, 45. 
John Trithemius, 62, seq. 
Julius, II, Pope, 95. 



Louis of Paramo, 
Lucan, 22. 
Luther, 86, 117. 



108. 



Magdeburg, Council of, 1390, 98. 

Magic: condemned by Church, 119; 
definition of, 9; Egyptian, med- 
ical character of, 19, seq.; Goetic, 
21; in Thessaly, 21; practices of, 
9; practices of, condemned by 
Church, 119, 124. 

Magic circle, 19. 

Magonia, Land of, see Agobard, 38. 

Mainz, Council of, 1261, 96; 1310, 97. 

Malefici, Definition of, 36; powers of, 
36. 

Maleficium, Definition of, 8. 

Malleus Maleficarum, Influence of, 
58. 

Manichaeans, 104. 

Manichaeism, 28, 102. 

Mantua, Council of, 1460, 98. 

Martin of Aries, 64. 

Martin of Tours, St., 102. 

Metz, Council of, 859, 47. 



Kaisersberg, Geiler von, 59, seq. 



Lactantius, 101. 
Lanzkranna Stephen, 82. 
Laodicaea, Council of, 375, 33. 
Lateran Council, 1215, 105. 
Law Roman, Practices of, 23. 
Layman Paul, S. J., 78, seq. 
Le Mans, Council of, 1238, 96. 
Leo I, Pope, 103. 
Leo IV, Pope, 45. 
Leo VII, Pope, 46. 
Leo X, Pope, 95. 
Liege, Council of, 1272, 96. 
Liftina, Council of, 743 or 745, 35. 
Lisieux, Council of, 1456, 98. 
London, Council of, 1125, 48. 
Loos, Cornelius, 72. 



Nantes, Council of, 1264, 96. 
Narbonne, Council of, 589, 34. 
Narcotics, Productive of dreams, 113; 

used in witchcraft, 113. 
Neo-Platonists, Teaching of, 29. 
Nicholas Jaquerius, inquisitor, 108. 
Nicholas V, Pope, 107. 
Nogaret, Council of, 1290, 96. 



Occult practices in ancient times, 19 

21, 24. 
Origen, 30, 100. 
Orleans, Council of, 533, 34. 
Oslo, Council of, 1436, 98. 
Otto of Bamberg, 48. 



INDEX 



136 



Paderborn, Council of, 785, 35. 
Paris, Council of, 1212, 96. 
Paris, University of, 56, seq. 
Paul, St., 29, 100. 

Paulus de Grillandus Castilioneus, 67. 
Pa via, Council of, 850, 46. 
Pegna, Francis, 70, seq. 
Penitentiale Mediolanense, 84. 
Penitentials : Arundel, 37; Roman, 36, 

seq.; of Bede, 37; of Egbert, 37; 

of Theodore of Canterbury, 37. 
Pesch, Christian, S. J., 118, 119. 
Peter of Aquila, 55. 
Peter Cantor, 104. 
Peter Lombard, Sentences of, 45. 
Peter of Blois, 45. 
Peter of Palude, 55. 
Peter of Tarantaise, 54. 
Philip VI of France, 88. 
Philters: as love potions, 30; use of, 

21, 107; used in Norse magic, 26. 
Pius II, Pope, 91. 
Poisons, used by witches, 23. 
Prague, Council of, 1349, 97, 1407; 97 
Prierias Silvester, 65, seq. 
Priscillian, accused of sorcery, 102; 

teaching of, 34. 
Priscillianism, 102. 



Question, Presence of ecclesiastics at, 

110. 
Quaestio, see question. 



Rabanus Maurus, 38, 39. 

Rack, 78, 110. 

Raumer, George Wihl. v. (historian), 

113, seq. 
Ravenna, Council of, 1280, 96. 
Raymond of Pennafort, St., 106. 
Regensburg, Council of, 1527, 98. 
Regino of Priim, 40. 
Reisbach, Council of, 799-800, 36. 
Remigius Nicholas, 73, seq. 
Rheims, Council of, 624 or 630, 34. 
Richard of Middleton, 55. 



Ripuarian code, Legislation of, 26. 6 
Roger Bacon, 52. 

Rome, Council of, 743, 35; 850, 47. 
Rouen, Council of, 650, 34; 1190, 48; 

1231, 96; 1321, 97; 1335, 97; 

1445, 98. 



Sabbat: characteristics of, 14; details 
of, 15; great and little, 15; origin 
of, 13; places held, 14; attend- 
ance at, 10, 14, 15, 108; trans- 
portation to, 13, 15. 

Sachenspiegel, 93. 

Sacraments, Abuse of, 96, 98, 107. 

Salamanca, Council of, 1335, 97. 

Salic Law, 26. 

Salves, Use of, 14, 21, 113. 

Salzburg, Council of, 799-800, 36; 
1456, 98. 

Samuel de Cassinis, 61. 

Satan, see devil. 

Scherer, George, S. J., 81. 

Schwickerath, Robert, S. J., 75, 113. 

Seville, Council of, 1512, 98. 

Shepherd of Hermas, Author of, 30. 

Sigmund of Austria, 94. 

Sixtus IV, Pope, 91. 

Sixtus V, Pope, 95. 

Somnambulism, 12, 116. 

Sorcery, Definition of, 9. 

Spee, Frederic, S. J., 79-81. 

Spells, Form of, 14. 

Spina, Bartholomew de, 66, seq. 

Stephen of Bourbon, 52. 

Stephen V, Pope, 46. 

Strappado, 110. 

Substitution, See figurine. 

Suggestion, Power of, 114. 

Summa, 53. 

Szaboles, Council of, 1092, 47, seq. 



Taciturnity, Gift of, 111. 
Tanner, Adam, S. J., 77, seq. 
Tatian, teaching on magic, 30. 



INDEX 



137 



Tempestarii : definition of, 36; punish- 
ment of, 37. 

Tengler, Ulrich, 64. 

Teutons, Magic among, 26. 

Theodore of Tarsus, 27. 

Thomas Aquinas, St., 43, 53, 106. 

Thomas of Cantimpre\ 14. 

Thomas of Strasburg, 55, seq. 

Tertullian, 30. 

Toledo, Council of, 633, 34; 693, 34. 

Tonsberg, Council of, 1336, 97. 

Torture: by civil officials only, 110; 
duration of, 110; employment of, 
109; for extorting confession, 
110, 122; introduced into Inquisi- 
tion, 109; origin of, not eccle- 
siastical, 109; permission re- 
quired for, 110; rules for use of, 
111; trial by, 110. 

Torturers, Depravity of, 108. 

Tours, Council of, 567, 34; 1236, 96. 

Tribur, Council of, 895, 47. 

Trier, council of, 1310, 97. 

Trolla-thing, 26. 

Trullo, Council of, 692, 35. 



Ulrich Molitor, 58, seq. 
Upsala, Council of, 1443-48, 98. 
Urban IV, Pope, 110. 
Utrecht, Council of, 1261, 96. 



Valence, Council of, 1248, 96. 
Vannes, Council of, 465, 34. 
Vaudois, 11, 91. 
Venice, Council of, 1296, 96. 
Vincenz Dodo, 61. 



Wazo, bishop of Liege, 104. 
Werewolf, a form of witchcraft, 23. 
William Durandus of S. Porciano, 55. 



William of Paris, 51, seq. 

Witch: applied to female sex only, 10; 
definition of, 10, 11, 27; descrip- 
tion of, 10; meaning of term in 
ancient times, 10; occupation of, 
16; physical appearance of, 10; 
power over human body, 16; 
power over human mind, 16; 
power over natural phenomena, 
16; punishment of, 68, 72, 109; 
signs of, 76; test of, 76; Teutonic, 
cannibalism of, 26. 

Witches, Classes of, 36, 63. 

Witchcraft: among ancients, 19-23; 
among barbarians, 25-27; atti- 
tude of Church towards, 118, 
120, 124; causes of, 112, 114, 
116, seq.; confused with heresy, 
84, 122; definition of, 8; deter- 
mining factors in, 8; distin- 
guished from magic and sorcery, 
9; essential elements of, 8; forbid- 
den by Roman laws, 24; fostered 
by ignorance, 115; gravity of 
sin of, 119; in ancient world, 
19-23; limited to women, 12, 13; 
material instruments of, 16; 
persistence in confessing, 120; 
phenomena of, explained by 
natural causes, 116; practices of, 
9, 16, 17; present day belief in, 
7, 8; present day names for, 7, 8; 
present day teaching of Church 
on, 118; punishment of, by 
barbarians, 26; reality of, not 
pronounced by Church, 118, 120; 
relation with demoniacal posses- 
sion, 81; sinful character of, 119; 
spread by suggestion, 114. 

Witch-salves, ingredients of, 112. 

Women: liability to witchcraft, 12, 13; 
more proficient in diabolical 
arts, 11, 12; nocturnal flights of, 
41. 

Worms, Council of, 786, 35; 829, 46. 



VITA 

The writer of this dissertation, Sister Antoinette 
Marie Pratt, S. N. D., was born August 24, 1878, in Phila- 
delphia, Pennsylvania. She was educated at the Friends' 
Central School, Philadelphia, and at Notre Dame Acad- 
emy, Boxbury, Massachusetts. She was received into 
the Catholic Church in 1896 and in 1900 she entered the 
novitiate of the Sisters of Notre Dame, Waltham, Massa- 
chusetts. After two years spent there, in the Notre Dame 
Training School, she taught in the Academies of the Order 
at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D. C, and 
has since been teaching History at Trinity College, Wash- 
ington. She obtained the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 
1909 from Trinity College and the degree of Master of 
Arts in 1911. She began graduate work in 1910 and at- 
tended courses under Doctors Weber, Turner, Pace, and 
McCormick, the principal courses being in the depart- 
ments of History, Philosophy, and Education. 



138 






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